Author(s)

M. Skrinar & A. Umek

Abstract

As cracks may change significantly the behaviour of the whole structure, the development of reliable models of the mechanical behaviour is especially important. A detailed discretisation of the crack and its surrounding can be achieved with an appropriate mesh of finite elements, but such an approach is not recommended in inverse problems where a model suitable for intensive crack's location and position modification is required. Therefore, in such cases simplified models are needed, and one of the most simple and popular models is the model where the crack itself is replaced by a rotational linear spring connecting uncracked parts of the structure that are modelled as elastic elements. This elementary model neglects the fact that in the case of a single side crack an centric tensile load causes also transverse displacements that do not a

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