TBE 0NIvERSITY 0F TEXAS AT A0STIN

Finite Element Nethou

in Fiactuie Nechanics

NaotoSakakibara
5/9/2008

TableofContents
Summary............................................................................................................................................3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
QuarterPointElement......................................................................................................................4
Transitionelement............................................................................................................................5
MeshingRulesforQPEandtransitionalelement.............................................................................6
StressIntensityFactor(SIF)...............................................................................................................8
EnrichedElement............................................................................................................................10
NSFFEMver1.0..............................................................................................................................12
IntroductiontoExtendedFiniteElementMethod..........................................................................14
AddingSingularityfield....................................................................................................................14
AddingDiscontinuity.......................................................................................................................14
EnrichingMesh................................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................16
Bibliography.....................................................................................................................................17

Summary

TheFiniteElementMethod(FEM)hasbeenoneofthemostpowerfulnumericaltoolsforthe
solutionofthecrackprobleminfracturemechanics.In1960s,youcanfindtheearlyapplication
ofthefiniteelementmethodinthepapersbySwedlow,WilliamsandYang[1965].Henshelland
Shaw[1975]andBarsoum[1976]suggestedthequarterpointelementinordertogetaccurate
solutionaroundcracktipin1975.Ontheotherhand,Blenzley[1974]developedtheenriched
elementsin1974.Inrecentresearch,ExtendedFiniteElementMethod(XFEM),whichallowsyou
tocalculatethecrackpropagationwithoutremeshingfiniteelements,isproposedattheendof
20
th
century.
Introduction

Itisknownthatthesolutionofthefiniteelementhassomeerror(5to10%)withthegeneral
isoparametricelement.Inadditiontothat,itisalsoreportedthatthelargenumberofthemesh
dontguaranteethesolutionsinthevicinityofthecracktip.Thereasonofthoseinaccurate
solutionsiscausedbythesingularityofthestress(strain)fieldaroundcracktipasshownbelow.
(ModeIcracktipfieldfromLEFM)

r
=
SC
i
cos _

2
] _1 +sin
2
_

2
]_

=
SC
i
cos
3
_

2
]

r
=
SC
i
sin_

2
] cos
2
_

2
]
Duetothelowerorderoftheshapefunctionoftheisoparametricelements;thosesingularity
variationishardlyobtained.Inthispaper,twooutstandingtechniqueswillbeintroduced.Both
techniquescanachievethesingularityfieldaroundthecracktip.OneiscalledCollapsed
QuadrilateralQuarterelementandtheotherisenrichedelements.
4

QuarterPointElement

HenshellandShawandBarsoumindependentlyfoundthatbymovingthemidnodeofaeight
nodequadrilateralelementtoaquarterpointposition,thedesired1/variationforstrainscanbe
achievedalongrays,withintheelement,theemanatefromthenodecracktip.[Sanford,2002]
AsyoucanseeintheFigure,thiscanbeeasilydonebymovingthenode6closetothe3andalso
locatenode4,7and3atthesameplace.Furthermore,asyoumovethemidpointtothequarter
point,theshapefunctioninglobalcoordinatebecomesmoresimilartothe 1ifunction.
However,whenthenodesarecollapsedtoproducethe1ivariation,theelementreflectsonly
thenearfieldbehavioranditssizeshouldberestrictedtothatoftheregionofvalidityofthe
nearfieldequation.Pu,etal.notedthatthe12nodecollapsedelementgavegoodresultsfor
problemstheyinvestigatedifr0wererestrictedto12%ofthecracklength,whichis
comparablewiththesizeofthesingularitydominatedzonedeterminedbyChona,Irwin,and
Sanford[Chona,R.,Irein,G.,andSanford,R.J.,1983]Inparticular,asmallnumberofQuarter
PointElement(QEP)surroundingthecracktipresultsininadequatemodelingofthe
circumferentialdisplacements,whiletoosmallaspanangleintroduceserrorsduetoexcessive
elementdistortion.Therefore,itwouldseemthatemployingbetween6and8QEPsare
reasonable.[I.L.Lim,I.W.JhonstonandS.K.Choi,1993]

4
1 5
6
3
2
7
8
1 5 2
8
6
473
H/4
3H/4
Figure1QuadrilateralIsoparametricandCollapsedQuarter PointElement
5

Figure2ImageofShapeFunction
Eventhoughquarterpointelementshavesomedifficultyinmeshing,thereisastrongadvantage
ofcapabilityofusinggeneralFiniteElementCode.Inotherwords,thereisnoneedtochangethe
formulationoffiniteelement.Bothnodesaresimplyexpressedasbelow.
u
I
(x) = N
Ij
(x)u
j

Transitionelement

Underspecialconfiguration,transitionalelementsimprovetheaccuracyofstressintensityfactor
computations.Thesetransitionalelementsarelocatedintheimmediatevicinityofthesingular
elementswiththemidsidenodessoadjustedastoreflectorextrapolatethesquareroot
singularityonthestressandstrainsatthetipofthecrack.Asshownintheequation,themid
pointofthetransitionalelementcanbeobtainedbythisrelation.Inthisformula,thelengthof
thecollapsedQPEisdefinedas1andListheLengthfromcracktiptotheoutsideofthe
transitionalelements.
L =
L +2L + 1
4

6

AccordingtotheM.A.Hussain,itwasfoundthattherewasimprovementinaccuracyfora
configurationwhichconsistedonlysingularandtransitionalelements,whentransitional
elementsareusedforadoubleedgecrackproblem.

Figure3TransitionElement
MeshingRulesforQPEandtransitionalelement

Fig.4istheexampleofthemeshingforthecracktipproblem.Asyoucanseeinthefigure,aplate
withcertaincracksizeisgiven.Quarterpointelementsarelocatedaroundthecracktipsothat
thesingularityofthestress&strainfieldwillbesatisfied.Transitionalelementsaredeployed
rightnexttothequarterpointelement.Finally,restoftheregionoftheplateismeshedbythe
CPE8elements.
Ingeneral,thereisnooptimalnumbersforthesizeoftheeachelement.Themeshsizeshouldbe
determinedineachproblemsothatgoodaccuracyisobtained.However,thereexistsome
suggestionsinordertodefinethesizeofthemesh.ForthecollapsedquadrilateralQPE,the
recommendedratioforthecracklengthandthedistancebetweencracktipandquarterpointis
7

aboutLQPE/a=0.05~0.10,whereaisdistancebetweencracktipandquarterpoint.Also,since
biggernumberofelementsinhoopdirectionwillmakethoseelementsexcessivelydistorted,
numberofelementsincircumferentialdirectionshouldbe6~8.Transitionelementsareexpected
tobebiggerthanquarterpointelementsanditisknowthatLTra/LQPE~2.5inFig.4givesyoua
goodaccuracyundersomespecialproblems.

Figure4 MeshingConfiguration
TheFig.5istheexampleoftheeffectoftheelementssize.Inthisgraph,LQPE/aappearsonthe
xaxisandtheerrorSIF(StressIntensityFactor)appearsontheyaxis.Asyoucanseeinthisgraph,
regardlessofmethodtofindtheSIF,theerrorinSIFincreasesalot,ifyouhaveasmall
size(LQPE/aislessthan0.05)QPE.ThemethodtofindtheSIFwillbediscussedinnextsection.
8

Figure5StressIntensityFactorvsQPEsize

StressIntensityFactor(SIF)

(a) Quarterpointdisplacementtechnique
Thequarterpointdisplacementtechnique(QPDT)wasappliedintheFEMsimulationtoevaluate
theSIF.
K
1
=
2 u
+1
2
L
(v
B
i
- v
D
i
)
K
2
=
2 u
+ 1
2
L
(u
B
i
-u
D
i
)

where
=(3
L = le
u, v
(b
Simila
show

Amon

e,
)/(1+ ) f
ength of QPE
= local displa
b) Displacem
artotheQPD
nbelow.
ngthesetech
for plane stres
along clack f
acement arou
ment correlatio
DTmethod,SI
niques,theD
ss, = 3 - 4 fo
face,
und crack as s
on technique
Fwillbefoun
DCTismorew
Figure6No

E
C
9
or plane strain
showed in Fig
ndbytheDisp
widelyused,a
ode#forSIFcalc
D
B
n and axisym
g.
placementco
lthoughtheQ

culation
mmetry,
orrelationtech

QPDTissimpl
hniqueas
lytoimplemeent.
10

EnrichedElement

Anotherclassofelementsdevelopedtodealwithcrackproblemsisknownasenriched
elements.Thisformulationinvolvesaddingtheanalyticexpressionofthecracktipfieldtothe
conventionalfiniteelementpolynomialapproximationforthedisplacement.Asyouseeinthe
equationbelow,youaddtheextradegreeoffreedomtotheapproximationofthedisplacement.
Inthisclassoftheelements,K
I
andK
II
willaretheaddeddegreeoffreedomandQsarethe
functionswhichrepresentsthesingularfieldaroundthecracktip.Ingeneral,thoseQfunctions
arederivedfromanalyticalsolution.
u
I
= N
k
u
Ik
4
k
+R(a, b) _K
I
_Q
1I
-N
k
Q
1 Ik
4
k
_ + K
II
_Q
2I
- N
k
4
k
Q
2 Ik
__

Q
I1
=
1
u
_

cos

2
_
-1
2
+ sin
2

2
_
Q
II1
=
1
u
_

sin

2
_
- 1
2
+ cos
2

2
_
Q
I2
=
1
u
_

sin

2
_
-1
2
-cos
2

2
_
Q
II2
=
1
u
_

cos

2
_
-( - 1)
2
+ sin
2

2
_

ThisF
isthe
Basica
soluti
Itiskn
thisis
1974]
Fig.7showsth
experimenta
ally,hehasfo
onfromsma
nownthaten
strue,onlyif
]used7x7G
heresultfrom
aldataofnor
oundthatfor
llcracksizeto
nrichedeleme
youusethea
aussianquad
Figure7S
mBlenzyspap
malizedSIFa
thistypeofp
orelativelyb
entscanachie
appropriatein
dratureinord
11
StressIntensityF
per[Benzly,1
ndcirclesare
problem,enri
igclack.
evesingularf
ntegrationm
dertoachieve
Factor
1974]withsid
ehisFiniteEle
chedelemen
fieldaroundc
ethod.Forex
ethishighero
decrackedpa
ementAnalys
ntmethodhas
cracktipvery
xample,Blenz
orderfunction

anel.Solidline
sisdata.
saccurate
well.Howev
zy[Benzly,
ns.
e
ver
12

Furthermore,sinceanotherDOFisintroducetotheexpression,stiffnessmatrixandloadvectors
arenotsameasthegeneralFEMcodeanymore.

'
22 21
12 11
F
F
K
K
u
K K
K K
II
I

Inthisexpression,K
11
istheoriginalstiffnessmatrixandFisloadvectors.Othermatricesand
vectorsareintroducedasyouaddextradegreeoffreedomK
I
andK
II

NSFFEMver1.0

NSFFEM(NaotoSakakibaraFractureFEM)wasdevelopedbyFORTRAN95inordertoverify
thosefacts.Characteristicinformationislistedasbelow.
1. Elementyoucanchooseeithergeneralquadrilateralelementorquarterpointelement.
2. Elementsizeyoucanspecifythesizeoftheelement.
3. Geometryonlysimplerectangularplatewithsmallcrackisavailable.(AsshowninFig)
4. MaterialPropertyyoucaninputyourownmaterialproperty.
5. SIF(StressIntensityFactor)SIFiscalculatedbyquarterpointdisplacementtechnique.
OneoftheexamplesoftheanalysisisshowedinFig.8andFig.9isthecalculationfromthe
ABAQUSwithquarterpointelements.Applyingdistributedloadonthetopedgeoftheplate
madeoftypicalbrittlematerialglass,youcangetthisdeformedconfigurationasshownbelow.
Thebottomedgeisfixed.
13

Figure8DeformedConfigurationofNSFEM

Figure9DeformedConfigurationofABAQUS
14

IntroductiontoExtendedFiniteElementMethod
Attheendofthe20
th
century,newfiniteelementmethodcalledExtendedFEMwasintroduced.
ThisisthenewFEMtechniquemainlyforthefracturemechanics.Theadvantageofthis
techniqueisthatmeshisindependentfromthecrackgeometry,whileinthemostoftheFEM
application,meshshouldbecreatedalongthecrackgeometry.However,XFEMdoesntneedto
considerthecrackgeometrywhenitiscreated.ThistechniquefirstintroducedbyBelytschko
et.al.intheirpaper.[NicolasMoes,JohnDolbowandTedBelytschko,1999]Inthissection,two
mainconceptofXFEMisexplained.Bothofthemareenrichingtechniquebyusingspecial
functionandaddingextradegreeoffreedom.Oneofthemisaddingsingularexpressionandthe
otherisaddingdiscontinuousexpressionwhichallowstheelementtohavetwodifferentstrain
andstressfield.TheequationbelowisgeneralXFEMexpression.Firsttermisrepresentgeneral
FEMapproximationofthedisplacementfieldand2
nd
termappliessingularfieldaroundcracktip.
Finally,3
rd
termgivesdiscontinuitytotheelements.

AddingSingularityfield
Aswellastheenrichedelementexplainedinthispaperbefore,thebasicconceptisadding
singularityfieldsothatFEMdisplacementapproximationachievesingularfieldaroundcracktip.
AsyoucanseeintheFig.normallythisenrichmentisappliedattheelementincludingcracktip.
AddingDiscontinuity
Byapplyingthediscontinuitytotheelement,wecanexpresstwodifferentstrainfieldsinone
element.Thismeansthatthestrainexpressioninonesideofcrackisdifferentfromtheother
sideofcrack.InthisFig.10,regionIandIIisinasameelementbutdifferentfieldsduetothe
discontinuousfunction.Also,twodashedlineinthepictureisassumedtwocrackedge.

= = = =
+ + =
n
j
n
h
h h
mt
k
mf
l
k l k j
H N F N u N u
j
1 1 1 1
)) ( ( ) ( ) ) ( )( ( ) ( ) ( a x x b x x x x

Assho
discon
locate
atthe

owninprevio
ntinuity.The
edatthecrac
ecrackexistli
Figure
oussection,in
ewaytoenric
cktipandenr
ikeFig.11
10Enrichedele
Enri
nXFEMeleme
chingtheelem
richedbythe
15
ementwithdisco
chingMe
entsareenric
mentisshown
discontinuou
ontinuousfunct
sh
chedbyaddin
nbelow.Sing
uspropertyel

tion
ngsingularfie
gularelement
lementshoul
eldand
tshouldbe
dbedeployed

Con

Inthis
point
eleme
theel
size.B
there
geom
appro
clusion
spaper,three
element.The
entapproxim
lementbyde
Bothtwowas
esearch.XFEM
metry.Meshis
opriateeleme
F
eFEMtechniq
ebenefitofth
ation;theref
rivedfunctio
sintroduceab
Menablesyou
sindependen
entinrightwa
Figure11Enrich
quesforfract
hiselementis
orethismeth
ninanalytica
bout1970sa
utoanalyzet
tfromthecra
ay.
16
edelementaro
turemechani
syoucanuse
hodisrelative
alcalculation.
andnowadays
thecrackpro
ackgeometry
undcracktip
icswereintro
egeneralshap
elyeasytous
Thisisnotst
snewtechniq
blemwithout
y.Allyounee
oduced.Firsto
pefunctionfo
e.Secondon
tronglydepen
quecalledXF
tconsidering
dtoworryis
oneisquarte
orfinite
eisenriching
ndentonmes
EMisunder
thecrack
toenrich

er
g
sh
17

Bibliography
Barsoum,R.(1976).Furthurapplicationofquadraticisoparametricelementstolinearfracture
mechanicsofplatebendingandgeneralshells.Int.J.Num.Meth,Engng,11,167169.
Benzly,S.(1974).Representationofofsingularitieswithisoparametricfiniteelements.
Int.J.Num.Meth.Engng.,8,537545.
Chona,R.,Irein,G.,andSanford,R.J.(1983).Theinfluenceofspecimensizeandshapeonthe
singuraritydominatedzone.Proceedings,14thNationalSymposiumonFractureMechanics,
STP791,Vol.1,AmericanSoc.forTestingandMaterials,(pp.I1I23).Philadelphia.
Henshell,R.DandShaw,K.G.(1975).Cracktipfiniteelementsareunnnecessary.
Int.J.Num.Meth.Engng.,9,495507.
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isoparametricelementsinlinearfracturemechanics.Internationaljournalfornumericalmethods
inengineering,Vol.36,24732499.
I.L.Lim,I.W.JohnstonandS.K.Choi.(1992).Onstressintensityfactorcomputationfromthe
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300.
Mohammad,S.(2008).Extendetfiniteelement.BlackwellPublishing.
NicolasMoes,JohnDolbowandTedBelystschko.(1999).Afiniteelementmethodforcrack
growthwithioutremeshing.Internationaljounarlfornumericalmethodsinengineering,131150.
NicolasMoes,JohnDolbowandTedBelytschko.(1999).Afiniteelementmethodforcrack
growthwithoutremshing.Int.J.Nume.Engng,46,131150.
Sanford,R.(2002).PrincipleofFractureMechanics.UpperSaddleRiver,NJ07458:Pearson
Education,Inc.
Swedlow,J.,L.,Williams,M.L.andYang,W.H.(1965).ElastoplasticStressesandstrainsincracked
plate..Proc.1st.Int.Conf.Fracture.,,(pp.Vol1,259282).Sendai,Japan.

Figure1QuadrilateralIsoparametricandCollapsedQuarterPointElement 4
Figure2ImageofShapeFunction 5
18

Figure3TransitionElement 6
Figure4MeshingConfiguration 7
Figure5StressIntensityFactorvsQPEsize 8
Figure6Node#forSIFcalculation 9
Figure7StressIntensityFactor 11
Figure8DeformedConfigurationofNSFEM 13
Figure9DeformedConfigurationofABAQUS 13
Figure10Enrichedelementwithdiscontinuousfunction 15
Figure11Enrichedelementaroundcracktip 16