Issue 45

G. Gomes et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 45 (2018) 67-85; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.45.06 67 Analysis of crack growth problems using the object-oriented program bemcracker2D Gilberto Gomes University of Brasilia, Brasil ggomes@unb.br , http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8385-9042 Antonio C. O. Miranda University of Brasilia, Brasil acmiranda@unb.br, http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5225-7428 A BSTRACT . This paper presents an application of the boundary element method to the analysis of crack growth problems in linear elastic fracture mechanics and the correlation of results with experimental data. The methodology consists of computing stress intensity factors (SIFs), the crack growth path and the estimation of fatigue life, via an incremental analysis of the crack extension, considering two independent boundary integral equations, the displacement and traction integral equations. Moreover, a special purpose educational program for simulating two-dimensional crack growth based on the dual boundary element method (DBEM), named BemCracker2D, written in C++ with a MATLAB graphic user interface, has been developed and used to verify the adopted methodology. The numerical results are compared with those of the finite element method (FEM) and correlated with experimental data of fatigue crack-growth tests for two- dimensional structural components under simple loading, aiming to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the methodology adopted, as well as to evaluate the robustness of the BemCracker2D code. K EYWORDS . Dual Boundary Element Method; Crack Growth; Stress Intensity Factors; Fatigue Life; C++ code. Citation: Gomes, G., Miranda, C. O. A., Analysis of crack growth problems using the object-oriented program bemcracker2D, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 45 (2018) 67- 85. Received: 07.03.2018 Accepted: 18.04.2018 Published: 01.07.2018 Copyright: © 2018 This is an open access article under the terms of the CC-BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. I NTRODUCTION he boundary element method (BEM) is a powerful analysis tool for elasticity problems, particularly in the field of fracture mechanics. The incremental crack growth numerical techniques proposed by Blandford et al. [1] and Portela et al [2] are the most popular in the field. The first authors adopted the sub-regions approach where an artificial boundary connects to the crack and divides the structure into two new sub-regions, which is disadvantageous in T