Non‐planar 3D crack growth by the extended finite element and level sets—Part II: Level set update

TLDR

The study presents a level set method for modeling the growth of non‑planar three‑dimensional cracks. The method uses two orthogonal level sets to represent the crack surface and front, updates them via a Hamilton–Jacobi equation with a velocity extension that preserves the existing surface, and couples this with the extended finite element method where the displacement field is built directly from the level sets, avoiding explicit crack surface discretization. Numerical experiments demonstrate the method’s robustness in accuracy and its ability to handle cracks undergoing significant topological changes. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

Abstract We present a level set method for treating the growth of non‐planar three‐dimensional cracks.The crack is defined by two almost‐orthogonal level sets (signed distance functions). One of them describes the crack as a two‐dimensional surface in a three‐dimensional space, and the second is used to describe the one‐dimensional crack front, which is the intersection of the two level sets. A Hamilton–Jacobi equation is used to update the level sets. A velocity extension is developed that preserves the old crack surface and can accurately generate the growing surface. The technique is coupled with the extended finite element method which approximates the displacement field with a discontinuous partition of unity. This displacement field is constructed directly in terms of the level sets, so the discretization by finite elements requires no explicit representation of the crack surface. Numerical experiments show the robustness of the method, both in accuracy and in treating cracks with significant changes in topology. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.