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Meshfree modelling of fracture—a comparative study of different methods

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Abstract

Different fracture methods in meshfree methods are studied and compared. Our studies focuses on the elementfree Galerkin (EFG) method though similar results were obtained with SPH and MPM. Three major fracture approaches are tested: Natural fracture, smeared crack method and discrete crack method. In the latter method, the crack is represented as continuous line and as set of discrete crack segment. Natural fracture is a key feature of meshfree methods. In some numerical examples, we will show that natural fracture criterion cannot handle even simple fracture adequately. Moreover, we will show in our numerical examples that smeared crack models can capture global behavior appropriately for simple examples but not for complex examples involving branching cracks. The most accurate methods are discrete fracture methods.

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  1. Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhia, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    S. Rajagopal & N. Gupta

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  1. S. Rajagopal
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  2. N. Gupta
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Correspondence to S. Rajagopal.

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Rajagopal, S., Gupta, N. Meshfree modelling of fracture—a comparative study of different methods. Meccanica 46, 1145–1158 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-010-9367-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11012-010-9367-z

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