Rapid strain energy density evaluation for V-notches under mode I loading conditions

This work investigates the possibility to evaluate the Strain Energy Density value with a free mesh model suggesting the use of a correcting formula a posteriori. Several numerical analyses were carried out to prove the good agreement between the method suggested and the conventional method considered until now to acquire the Strain Energy Density value that requires the construction of the so-called control volume in the pre-processing phase of the FEM code. The main advantage of the methodology shown in the present work to evaluate the Strain Energy Density value is that, accepting an error in the calculation that depends on different parameters, it is possible to apply this method directly as a post-processing tool. This allows also to decrease considerably the effort of the researcher in applying this method and to reduce the calculation time thanks to the use of a free coarse mesh.