Crack growth simulation for plural crack using hexahedral mesh generation technique

Abstract

This paper describes a surface crack growth simulation using a new mesh generation technique. The generated mesh is constituted of all hexahedral elements. Hexahedral elements are suitable for an analysis of fracture mechanics parameters, i.e. stress intensity factor. The advantage of a hexahedral mesh is good accuracy of an analysis and less number of degrees of freedoms than a tetrahedral mesh. In this study, a plural crack growth simulation is computed using the hexahedral mesh and its distribution of stress intensity factor is investigated.