Mixed finite element computation of energy release rate in anisotropic materials based on virtual crack closure-integral method

Abstract

The material with anisotropic properties are becoming widely essential due to the ease to manipulate their mechanical properties to obtain a particular quality, insure safety or a specific behavior. Those kinds of materials are considered anisotropic because their characteristics and behavior are dependent on every direction of the material’s orientation. In this work, the virtual crack closure-integral technique is implemented to a mixed finite element, in addition to the stiffness derivative procedure, to evaluate the ERR of crack extension in anisotropic materials. A simulation of a cracked edge rectangular plate with anisotropic characteristics is taken for example. The results obtained are in good agreement with the analytical results, making the proposed technique a good model for fracture investigation and allow it to study more complicated cases in future works.