Failure-Modeling Methods in Finite Element Simulations

Fracture is an essential component of pervasive material-failure modeling with applications in the aerospace, automotive, civil infrastructure, and defense industries. Leading techniques for modeling dynamic fracture in engineering materials are the cohesive network approach and the eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM). The use of cohesive networks to study fragmentation of brittle fracture of an expanding ring is discussed. This is a simple, yet unresolved classical problem in the field of engineering mechanics. The implementation of XFEM in order to model pervasive failure of engineering materials is also discussed.