Crack growth prediction by manifold method

The prediction of crack growth is studied by the manifold method. The manif old method is a new numerical method proposed by Shi. This method provides a unified framework for solving problems dealing with both continuums and j ointed materials. It can be considered as a generalized finite-element meth od and discontinuous deformation analysis. One of the most innovative featu res of the method is that it employs both a physical mesh and a mathematica l mesh to formulate the physical problem. The physical mesh is dictated by the physical boundary of a problem, while the mathematical mesh is dictated by the computational consideration. These two meshes are interrelated thro ugh the application of weighting functions. In this study, a local mesh ref inement and auto-remeshing schemes are proposed to extend the manifold meth od. The proposed model is first verified by comparing the numerical results with the benchmark solutions, and the results show satisfactory accuracy. The crack growth problems and the stress distributions are then investigate d. The manifold method is proposed as an attractively new numerical techniq ue for fracture mechanics analysis.