Polygon scaled boundary finite elements for crack propagation modelling

An automatic crack propagation modelling technique using polygon elements is presented. A simple algorithm to generate a polygon mesh from a Delaunay triangulated mesh is implemented. The polygon element formulation is constructed from the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM), treating each polygon as a SBFEM subdomain and is very efficient in modelling singular stress fields in the vicinity of cracks. Stress intensity factors are computed directly from their definitions without any nodal enrichment functions. An automatic remeshing algorithm capable of handling any n-sided polygon is developed to accommodate crack propagation. The algorithm is simple yet flexible because remeshing involves minimal changes to the global mesh and is limited to only polygons on the crack paths. The efficiency of the polygon SBFEM in computing accurate stress intensity factors is first demonstrated for a problem with a stationary crack. Four crack propagation benchmarks are then modelled to validate the developed technique and demonstrate its salient features. The predicted crack paths show good agreement with experimental observations and numerical simulations reported in the literature. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.