Determination of crack tip fields in linear elastostatics by the meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method

It is shown that the MLPG method augmented with the enriched basis function s and either the visibility criterion or the diffraction criterion successf ully predicts the singular stress fields near a crack tip. Results are pres ented for a single edge-cracked plate and a double edge-cracked plate with plate edges parallel to the crack axis loaded in tension, the single edge-c racked plate with one plate edge parallel to the crack axis clamped and the other loaded by tangential tractions, and for a double edge-notched plate with the side between the notches loaded in compression. For the first thre e problems, the stress intensity factors computed with the equivalent domai n and the contour integrals are found to agree well with those available in the literature. For the edge-notched plate, results computed with the MLPG method agree well with those obtained from the finite element method.