Application of domain integral methods using tetrahedral elements to the determination of stress intensity factors

With the development of CAD packages which can create complicated 3D models and automatically mesh them with tetrahedral elements, the application of finite element techniques in mechanical design has reached unprecedented proportions. However, the extension of these techniques to fracture mechanics studies is hindered by the unavailability of a general method to obtain fracture mechanics singularity strength (J, K-I, etc.) for tetrahedral meshes. An approach to obtain these parameters along a 3D crack-front using tetrahedral elements is presented here. The method is then validated on well-known crack geometries, using tetrahedral meshes generated from commercially-available CAD-FEA packages. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.