A HIGHER-ORDER DISPLACEMENT DISCONTINUITY METHOD FOR ANALYSIS OF CRACK PROBLEMS

A new formulation of a higher order displacement discontinuity, method is developed to model two-dimensional elastostatics problems. The new method uses three collocation points for each element, one at the cen ter of the element in question and the others at the centers of the ad jacent elements. Each element therefore has a second-order (quadratic) distribution of displacement discontinuity but only two degrees of fr eedom, which contributes to the efficiency of the approach. By incorpo rating a special treatment for crack tips, a crack with arbitrary geom etry can be modeled. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by exa mple problems; the results are in goon agreement with the analytical s olutions and show that the new method is comparable to, but more effic ient than, the conventional higher order displacement discontinuity me thod.