Fracture analysis of cracked thin plate by NURBS-based extended finite element method

This paper deals with the application of extended isogeometric approach (XIGA) for performing numerical simulation of thin plates containing edge & center crack. Edge crack has one tip, whereas center crack has two tips. Extended isogeometric approach is PUM (partition of unity method) enrichment isogeometric approach. Level set method is applied to recognize the control points whose basis function is needed to be enriched. Heaviside and asymptotic enrichment functions are employed to enhance the basis function of control points along crack and crack tip, respectively. The consequences of variation in orientation of crack on stress intensity factor have been observed in this work. The obtained result is very well validated with respect to the results of Rouzegara et al. (Sci Iran 20: 120-130, 2013). The percentage of error observed is less than one percent when compared with analytical results.