ELEMENT-FREE GALERKIN METHODS FOR STATIC AND DYNAMIC FRACTURE

Element-free Galerkin (EFG) methods are presented and applied to stati c and dynamic fracture problems. EFG methods, which are based on movin g least-square (MLS) interpolants, require only nodal data; no element connectivity is needed. The description of the geometry and numerical model of the problem consists only of a set of nodes and a descriptio n of exterior boundaries and interior boundaries from any cracks. This makes the method particularly attractive for growing crack problems, since only minimal remeshing is needed to follow crack growth. In movi ng least-square interpolants, the dependent variable at any point is o btained by minimizing a function in terms of the nodal values of the d ependent variable in the domain of influence of the point. Numerical e xamples involving fatigue crack growth and dynamic crack propagation a re presented to illustrate the performance and potential of this metho d.