RESEARCH PAPER
Fully Automatic Simulation of Crack Propagation in Plane Structures
1
Department of Architecture and Construction, IU International University of Applied Sciences,
Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 27, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
2
Institute of Materials Engineering, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg,
Gustav-Zeuner-Str. 5, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz, PF 1454,
Schwenninger Weg 1, 02754 Zittau, Germany
Publication date: 2026-03-24
Acta Mechanica et Automatica 2026;20(1):235-241
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
In this paper, advanced fully automatic computations of curved crack propagation in combination with the analysis of the plastic limit loading by the lower bound theorem of plasticity in plane structures with multiple cracks are presented. For this purpose a simulation program based on the finite element method (FEM) is developed. A Coffin-Manson-model is implemented to include ad-ditionally initiated cracks into the model during the crack growth simulation process. To show the accuracy of the simulation pro-gram numerical results of multiple crack growth under proportional loading configurations are presented and compared with exper-imental data. The results indicate that the proposed solution algorithm provides a powerful tool for flaw assessment with the failure assessment diagram (FAD) procedure
in combination with a numerical crack path simulation. Furthermore, it can be observed that local plastic failure occurs in the liga-ment
between two approaching crack tips, which does not lead immediately to a complete loss of load-bearing capacity of the damaged
structure.
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| eISSN: | 2300-5319 |
| ISSN: | 1898-4088 |
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