Strategies for planar crack propagation based on the concept of material forces

Journal article, 2011

This paper presents a computational framework for the simulation of planar crack growth (including kinking) driven by "material forces". An evolution law for the crack tip position is formulated, which is shown to give rise to different propagation strategies when subjected to certain assumptions on regularity. Three such strategies, that previously have been proposed in the literature in principle: Explicit Proportional Extension (EPE), Implicit Proportional Extension (IPE) and Maximum Parallel Release Rate (MPRR), are outlined and assessed. Based on the results of two numerical examples, it is concluded that the presented propagation strategies produce almost identical results and are robust with respect to time discretization.