DYNAMIC FRACTURE USING ELEMENT-FREE GALERKIN METHODS

The element-free Galerkin method for dynamic crack propagation is desc ribed and applied to several problems. This method is a gridless metho d, which facilitates the modelling of growing crack problems because i t does not require remeshing; the growth of the crack is modelled by e xtending its surfaces. The essential feature of the method is the use of moving least-squares interpolants for the trial-and-test functions. In these interpolants, the dependent variable is obtained at any poin t by minimizing a weighted quadratic form involving the nodal variable s within a small domain surrounding the point. The discrete equations are obtained by a Galerkin method. The procedures for modelling dynami c crack propagation based on dynamic stress intensity factors are also described.