Explicit FEA Cracks

FEA calculations can model explicit cracks.

Explicit Cracks

Cracks in FEA calculations are set up by configuring the mesh to include a crack. A crack can be internal to the mesh or, for symmetric loading, can be on an edge of the mesh and defined with the help of boundary conditions. These two crack geometries are illustrated on the right.

The crack plane edges must be collinear and of equal length (Δa). When a calculation with cracks is done, the Crack Closure... command can be used to calculate crack tip energy release rate.