1. Abstract We propose a novel approach for the analysis of cohesive crack propagation in elastic media. Unlike all existing methods that move from continuous displacement formulations that are properly enriched to handle the discontinuity, see e.g. the extended finite element method (XFEM) or the embedded discontinuity approaches, inherently discontinuous displacements and H(div,Ω) stresses in...

Numerical methods such as boundary element and finite element methods are widely used for the stress analysis in solid mechanics. This study presents boundary element method based on the displacement discontinuity formulation to solve general problems of interaction between hydraulic fracturing and discontinuities. The crack tip element and a higher order boundary displacement collocation techn...

Discontinuity layout optimization (DLO) is a relatively new upper bound limit analysis method. Compared to classic topology methods, aimed at obtaining the optimum design of structure by considering its self-weight, building cost, or bearing capacity, DLO optimizes failure pattern under specific loading conditions and constraints minimizing dissipation energy. In this work, we present modified ...

in this work, the mechanism for fracture of brittle substances such as rocks under a uniform normal tension is considered. the oriented straight micro-cracks are mostly created in all the polycrystalline materials resulting from the stress concentrations. the present work focuses on the interactions of the pre-existing micro-cracks, which can grow and propagate within a rock-like specimen. the ...

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is an easy to use yet powerful approach to measure displacement and strain fields. While the method is robust and accurate for a variety of applications, standard DIC returns large error and poor correlation quality near displacement discontinuities such as cracks or shear bands. This occurs because the subsets used for correlation can only capture continuous def...

in this paper, a higher order continuum model is presented based on the cosserat continuum theory in 3d numerical simulation of shear band localization. as the classical continuum models suffer from the pathological mesh-dependence in strain softening models, the governing equations are regularized by adding the rotational degrees-of-freedom to conventional degrees-of-freedom. the fundamental r...