An accurate and efficient algorithm for the simulation of fatigue crack growth based on XFEM and combined approximations

This study aims to reduce the computational cost in the simulation of fatigue crack growth process. Extended finite element method and combined approximations (CA) are integrated to form an efficient algorithm for such analysis. In the CA approach, binomial series are used as high quality basis vectors for the reduced basis expression and then crack propagation path can be predicted without solving the complete set of system equations. The validity of presented algorithm is fully investigated through several numerical examples. From these results, it is shown that the presented algorithm is very accurate and can save huge amounts of computational effort.