Simulation of Bi-metallic Interfacial Cracks Using Element Free Galerkin Method

This paper presents the implementation of element free Galerkin method for the stress analysis of structures having cracks at the interface of two dissimilar materials. The material discontinuity at the interface has been modeled using a jump function with a jump parameter that governs its strength. The jump function enriches the approximation by the addition of special shape function that contains discontinuities in the derivative. The trial and test functions of the weak form are constructed using moving least-square interpolants in each material domain. An intrinsic enrichment criterion with enriched basis has been used to model the crack tip stress fields. The mixed mode (complex) stress intensity factors for bi-material interface cracks are numerically evaluated using the modified domain form of interaction integral. The numerical results are obtained for edge and centre cracks lying at the bi-material interface, and are found to be in good agreement with the reference solutions for the interfacial crack problems.