Multiple-cracked fatigue crack growth by BEM (Q1904899)

The dual boundary element method is applied to the two-dimensional linear elastic analysis of fatigue problem of multiple-cracked body. For each crack, the traction integral equation is applied on one surface of the crack, while the usual displacement integral equation is used simultaneously on the other. General multiple crack growth problem is solved in a single region formulation. All crack surfaces are discretized with discontinuous quadratic boundary elements, and \(J\)-integral technique is used to evaluate stress intensity factors. The real extension path of cracks is simulated by a linear incremental crack extension, based on the maximum principal stress criterion. For each increment analysis of the cracks, crack extension is conveniently modelled with new boundary elements. Remeshing is no longer necessary. Fatigue life analysis is carried out using Paris' formulae. Several numerical examples show high efficiency of the present method.