On the accuracy of higher order displacement discontinuity method (HODDM) in the solution of linear elastic fracture mechanics problems

The higher order displacement discontinuity method (HODDM) utilizing special crack tip elements has been used in the solution of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) problems. The paper has selected several example problems from the fracture mechanics literature (with available analytical solutions) including center slant crack in an infinite and finite body, single and double edge cracks, cracks emanating from a circular hole. The numerical values of Mode I and Mode II SIFs for these problems using HODDM are in excellent agreement with analytical results (reaching up to 0.001% deviation from their analytical results). The HODDM is also compared with the XFEM and a modified XFEM results. The results show that the HODDM needs a considerably lower computational effort (with less than 400 nodes) than the XFEM and the modified XFEM (which needs more than 10000 nodes) to reach a much higher accuracy. The proposed HODDM offers higher accuracy and lower computation effort for a wide range of problems in LEFM.