Numerical prediction of dynamically propagating and branching cracks using moving finite element method

Phenomena of dynamic crack branching are investigated numerically from a macroscopic point of view. Repetitive branching phenomena, interaction of cracks after bifurcation and their stability, bifurcation into two and three branches were the objectives of this research. For the analysis of dynamic crack branching, recently we developed moving finite element method based on Delatmay automatic triangulation [Nishioka, Furutuka, Tchouikov and Fujimoto (2002)]. In this study this method was extended to be applicable for complicated crack branching phenomena, such as bifurcation of the propagating crack into more than two branches, multiple crack bifurcation and so on. The switching method of the path independent dynamic J integral, which was developed for the case of simple two cracks branching phenomena, demonstrated it's excellent applicability also for the case of complicated crack branching. The simulation results are discussed with consideration to the experimental findings.