An improved hybrid boundary node method for 2D crack problems

The meshless hybrid boundary node method (HBNM) is a promising method for solving boundary value problems and is further developed and numerically implemented for 2D crack problems in this paper, in which the displacement discontinuity method (DDM) is introduced, and an iterative hybrid technique is employed. In this approach, the original problem is decomposed into two subsidiary problems, and the HBNM is used to model the finite domain of the body without crack, while DDM is utilized to represent the cracks. The results will be added and compared with the boundary conditions of the original problem. Iteration will be performed between the external boundaries and crack faces until all of the boundary conditions are satisfied. Thus, the advantages of the component methods are effectively combined. Numerical examples are given to illustrate the implementation and performance of the present method. It is shown that the high accuracy can be achieved with a small number of nodes, and the present iterative hybrid approach is very suitable for modeling complex multi-cracks and branched cracks problems and is also very easy to be extended to solve the crack propagation.