Fracture mechanics has established itself as an important discipline of growing interest to those working to assess the safety, reliability and service life of engineering structures and materials. In order to calculate the loading situation at cracks and defects, nowadays numerical techniques like finite element method (FEM) have become indispensable tools for a broad range of applications. The present monograph provides an introduction to the essential concepts of fracture mechanics, its main goal being to procure the special techniques for FEM analysis of crack problems, which have to date only been mastered by experts. All kinds of static, dynamic and fatigue fracture problems are treated in two- and three-dimensional elastic and plastic structural components. The usage of the various solution techniques is demonstrated by means of sample problems selected from practical engineering case studies. The primary target group includes graduate students, researchers in academia and engineers in practice.

Novel techniques for modeling 3D cracks and their evolution in solids are presented. Cracks are modeled in terms of signed distance functions (level sets). Stress, strain and displacement field are determined using the extended finite elements method (X-FEM). Non-linear constitutive behavior for the crack tip region are developed within this framework to account for non-linear effect in crack propagation. Applications for static or dynamics case are provided.

Ensure the accuracy of your results when applying the Finite Element Method (FEM) to electromagnetic and antenna problems with this self-contained reference. It provides you with a solid understanding of the method, describes its key elements and numerical techniques, and identifies various approaches to using the FEM in solving real-world microwave field problems.