Analysis of crack-microcrack interactions and doubly kinked cracks using multiple singular points elements

Abstract

The problems of crack-microcrack interactions and doubly kinked cracks have been analysed by the finite element method. In the first case the main crack tip SIF has been evaluated for different length of a collinear microcrack, which is located at a fixed distance. Through another case study the influence of a pair of stacked parallel microcracks on the SIF of a main crack has been studied by varying the spacing of the two microcracks. The third example deals with a doubly kinked crack. The SIF at the crack tip has been determined for various angles of the second kink. All the three examples have been studied employing the multiple point singularity elements and their degenerate forms. The finite element computations have been compared, whenever possible, with analytical solutions available in the literature. The accuracy of the finite element computations are good. This has been achieved using a relatively coarse discretisation.