Non-linear fracture mechanics in LS-DYNA and LS-PrePost

Fracture mechanics provides an engineering framework for assessing the consequences of defects instructures. In linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), stress intensity factors KI, KII and KIII are usedfor characterizing the stress singularity at the crack tip, which arises from the theory of linear elasticity.Crack growth is assumed to occur when KI exceeds the fracture toughness KC. LEFM can be usefulfor brittle materials, or when the size of the plastic zone is small compared to global dimensions. In non-linear fracture mechanics (EPFM), an energy based criterion is used for assessing the risk forcrack growth: if the energy release rate at the crack tip exceeds what is required for creating newsurfaces in the material, crack growth will occur. Under certain assumptions the energy release rate atthe crack tip can be calculated by a path independent integral, the so-called J-integral. In modernFE-based fracture mechanics applied to practical design, the structure under consideration ismodelled, including cracks at specific locations, and the J-integral values are computed and used asdesign criteria. From a numerics viewpoint, the J-integral has many appealing properties: it can beevaluated from the far-field solution, which reduces numerical errors that may arise close to the cracktip, and the expected path-independence can to some extent be used as a quick check on solutionvalidity.Evaluation of the J-integral from LS-DYNA simulation results has been implemented as a postprocessingtool in LS-PrePost, including consistent treatment of residual stresses. The implementationcovers both 2D (plane stress / plane strain) and 3D applications, using the virtual crack-tip extension(VCE) method. The tool is accessible both via the LS-PrePost GUI and via command file interface