Unification of stress intensity factor (SIF) extraction methods with an h-adaptive finite element scheme

An h-adaptive finite element procedure consisting of recently developed mesh generator (advancing front type and exclusively suitable for two-dimensional domains containing cracks), ZZ-error estimator and a refinement strategy based on strain energy concentration index have been used to refine the meshes of domains containing cracks adaptively to a target error of 3 per cent. Seven mixed-mode SIF extraction methods have been coupled with the present h-adaptive finite element analysis in order to examine the performance of each method in an environment of randomly changing meshes. Based on the performance of each method the SIF values of a mixed-mode crack problem that does not have analytical solution have been suggested. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.