A new crack tip element for the phantom-node method with arbitrary cohesive cracks

We have developed a new crack tip element for the phantom-node method. In this method, a crack tip can be placed inside an element. Therefore, cracks can propagate almost independent of the finite element mesh. We developed two different formulations for the three-node triangular element and four- node quadrilateral element, respectively. Although this method is well suited for the one-point quadrature scheme, it can be used with other general quadrature schemes. We provide some numerical examples for some static and dynamic problems. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.