Author(s)

R.N.L. Smith & D. Delia-Ventura

Abstract

Boundary element superposition methods for mixed-mode fracture problems R.N.L. Smith, D. Delia-Ventura Applied Mathematics & OR Group, Cranfield University, RMCS, Shrivenham, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN6 SLA, UK ABSTRACT The subtraction of singularity method effectively superimposes two singular solu- tions in one step but there are advantages in a two step approach. No modifica- tions need be made to the basic boundary element program, and further solutions on the same mesh may be obtained in one step without any new consideration of crack tip singularity effects. For mixed-mode problems there are no difficulties with additional rigid-body displacements since traction boundary conditions may be used in the second step. A series of numerical tests shows the accuracy and efficiency of the superposition approach. INTRODUCTION The boundary element method (BEM) is now well known (see, for example, Brebbia and Dominguez [2]) and has clear advantages over the widely used fi

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