G. Dhondt1, D. Bremberg2
Structural Durability & Health Monitoring, Vol.6, No.3&4, pp. 305-328, 2010, DOI:10.3970/sdhm.2010.006.305
Abstract In a previous article the K-distritubion along the crack front of several mixed-mode specimens was investigated [Dhondt, Chergui, and Buchholz (2001)]. Both the modified virtual crack closure integral method and the quarter point element stress field method yielded results close to the available reference solutions in the literature [Murakami (1987)]. The present paper extends these results in two aspects. First, the meshing procedure used to obtain a focused mesh at the crack front is modified in order to deal with highly curved cracks. Secondly, the K-distribution along the initial crack is used to perform a More >