Numerical simulation methodologies for dynamic crack propagation in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous materials

Numerical simulations of dynamic fracture phenomena involve many inherent difficulties. To overcome such difficulties, the author and coworkers have developed various numerical simulation methodologies for dynamic crack propagation in homogeneous as well as in nonhomogeneous materials. Some of these developments are summarized in this paper. The contents are related to (i) several expressions for the dynamic J integral in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous materials, (ii) the concept of mixed-phase simulation for non-self-similar crack propagation, (iii) moving finite element methods for self-similar and for non-selfsimilar dynamic crack propagation, and (iv) numerical simulation results for dynamic fracture phenomena in homogenous and nonhomogeneous materials.