Computations of the stress intensity factors of double-edge and centre V-notched plates under tension and anti-plane shear by the fractal-like finite element method

The fractal-like finite element method (FFEM) is extended to compute the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of double-edge-/centre-notched plates subject to out-of-plane shear or tension loading conditions. In the FFEM, the use of global interpolation functions reduces the large number of unknowns in a singular region to a small set of generalised co-ordinates. Therefore, the computational cost is reduced significantly. Also, neither post-processing techniques to extract the SIFs nor special singular elements are needed. Many numerical examples of double-edge-/centre-notched plates are presented, and results are validated via existing published data. New results of notched plate problems are also introduced.