Strain injection techniques for modeling 3D crack propagation

This work presents some novel results obtained by using the strain injection techniques for modeling crack propagation in challenging 3D benchmark tests. The techniques were already tested and validated by static and dynamic simulations in 2D [1-4], so the main goal of this paper is to verify if the most important advantages of the method, low computational cost and independence of the results on the finite element mesh, are kept in 3D. The methodology, implemented in the finite element framework, consists essentially in injecting those elements that are going to capture the cracks with some enhanced strain modes for improving the performance of the elements for modeling propagating material failur