STUDY OF CRACK-PROPAGATION IN ORTHOTROPIC MATERIALS BY USING THE BOUNDARY ELEMENT METHOD

The application of the Boundary Element Method (BEM) to the computation of stress intensity factors (SIF) and the crack propagation angle in orthotropic materials is the aim of this paper. The computer program includes isoparametric linear, quadratic and quarter-point-traction-singular elements in order to obtain the stress distribution around the crack tips. A multidomain approach is followed in order to avoid the geometric singularity that appears in the double-node method. Different methods to compute the SIF are compared for several cases. Finally, the maximum circumferential stress approach is used to obtain the crack propagation angle in a mixed-mode propagation problem in an orthotropic material.