Smoothed nodal forces for improved dynamic crack propagation modeling in XFEM

Improvements in numerical aspects of dynamic crack propagation procedures by the extended finite element method are described and studied. Using only the discontinuous enrichment function in XFEM gives a binary description of the crack tip element: it is either cut or not. We describe a correction force to modify the forces to smoothly release the tip element while the crack tip travels through the element. This avoids creating spurious stress waves and improves the accuracy of the stress intensity factors during propagation by decreasing the oscillations. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.