Combining H-Adaptivity with the Element Splitting Method for Crack Simulation in Large Structures.

Area of Science:

• Computational mechanics
• Fracture mechanics
• Numerical simulation

Background:

• H-adaptivity refines meshes for crack propagation simulation in finite element method (FEM).
• Element deletion is common for crack representation but causes mesh dependency and mass/energy loss.
• Element splitting offers an alternative to mitigate drawbacks of element deletion.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce and apply the 'h-adaptive element splitting' (h-AES) numerical method.
• Combine h-adaptivity with element splitting for enhanced crack simulation.
• Demonstrate h-AES for simulating cracks in large structures under linear-elastic conditions.

Main Methods:

• Developed the h-adaptive element splitting (h-AES) method.
• Integrated h-AES into FEM programs, combining h-adaptivity and element splitting.
• Applied h-AES to simulate crack propagation in large structures using linear-elastic fracture mechanics.

Main Results:

• H-AES successfully introduces local mesh refinement in large-scale models with coarse meshes.
• The method reduces computational resource requirements.
• Small cracks in large structures are accurately represented without element deletion.

Conclusions:

• H-AES is an effective numerical tool for simulating crack propagation in large structures.
• The method overcomes limitations of element deletion, enhancing accuracy and efficiency.
• H-AES provides a robust approach for analyzing fatigue and accidental load scenarios in engineering applications.