K-I evaluation by the displacement extrapolation technique

This paper shows the influence of element size, element shape, and mesh arr angement on numerical values of K-1 obtained by the displacement method, an d gives some guidelines to obtain K-1 values as good as the most accurate e nergy based estimations, typically within a few percent difference of the e xact value. Three different displacement-based extrapolation techniques are analyzed. The influence of stress state is also shown. (C) 2000 Elsevier S cience Ltd. All rights reserved.