Adaptive h-p Finite Element Methods for the Numerical Simulation of Crack Propagation

Abstract

The goal of this work is to develop robust schemes for the simulation of crack propagation using adaptive finite element analysis. Here we address the main problem of estimation of the error in the engineering quantity of interest (e.g., stress intensity factors for the crack, the stresses in the hot spots). We showed that the error in the quantity of interest can be estimated by employing the standard error estimators, for the energy norm of the error, which are existing in several commercial finite element programs. We have developed a computer based approach for checking the quality of the error estimators used in practice and we have also developed error estimators which are robust for meshes used in engineering practice. This work has led to an innovative approach for adaptive mesh refinement to obtain the quantity of interest with prescribed tolerance.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 06, 1998
Accession Number
ADA358041

Entities

People

  • Theofanis Strouboulis

Organizations

  • Texas Engineering Experiment Station

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Computational Science
  • Computer Science
  • Computers
  • Crack Propagation
  • Engineering
  • Estimators
  • Finite Element Analysis
  • Hot Spots
  • Intensity
  • Mechanics
  • Simulations
  • Standards
  • Stress Intensity Factors
  • Stresses
  • Students
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Finite Element Method (FEM) for solving Partial Differential Equations (PDEs)
  • Materials Science (Mechanical Engineering).
  • Statistical inference.