Application of extended element-free Galerkin method to multiple flaws under brittle fracture conditions

The extended element-free Galerkin (XEFG) method incorporates cracks through partition of unity enrichment of the standard basis functions. Discontinuous functions are added to capture the jump through the crack faces and near-front enrichment is added to capture the asymptotic behaviour in the vicinity of the crack fronts. Depending on the material behaviour, these functions can be of various type. The method can treat initiation, growth and coalescence of cracks seamlessly in both linear elastic and non-linear settings. The method is a powerful tool for modelling and studying crack paths, which are a central feature in the assessment of multiple flaws. The method is applied to the problem of multiple non-aligned flaws in a ferritic plate under cleavage failure. Fracture paths from two nonaligned notches in a plate are modelled. Based on the observations of crack paths the critical flaw alignment distance is established for nonaligned through-wall flaws.