The improvement of crack propagation modelling in triangular 2D structures using the extended finite element method

In this paper, a novel geometric method combined with the piecewise linear function method is introduced into the extended finite element method (XFEM) to determine the crack tip element and crack surface element. Then, by combining with the advanced mesh technique, a novel method is proposed to improve the modelling of crack propagation in triangular 2D structure with the XFEM. The numerical tests show that the accuracy, the convergence, and the stability of the XFEM can be improved using the proposed method. Moreover, the applicability of the conventional multiple enrichment scheme is discussed. Compared with the proposed method, the conventional multiple enrichment scheme has deficiency in mixed mode I and II crack. Finally, a comparative study shows that the performance of the XFEM by using the proposed method to model the crack propagation can be greatly improved.