Adaptive finite elements by Delaunay triangulation for fracture analysis of cracks

Delaunay triangulation is combined with an adaptive finite element method for analysis of two-dimensional crack propagation problems. The content includes detailed descriptions of the proposed procedure which consists of the Delaunay triangulation algorithm and an adaptive remeshing technique. The adaptive remeshing technique generates small elements around the crack tips and large elements in the other regions. Three examples for predicting the stress intensity factors of a center cracked plate, a compact tension specimen, a single edge cracked plate under mixed-mode loading, and an example for simulating crack growth behavior in a single edge cracked plate with holes, are used to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. These examples demonstrate that the proposed procedure can improve solution accuracy as well as reduce total number of unknowns and computational time.