Boundary element formulation for 3D transversely isotropic cracked bodies

The boundary traction integral representation is obtained in elasticity when the classical displacement representation is differentiated and combined according to Hooke’s law. The use of both traction and displacement integral representations leads to a mixed (or dual) formulation of the BEM where the discretization effort for crack problems is much smaller than in the classical formulation. A boundary element analysis of three-dimensional fracture mechanics problems of transversely isotropic solids based on the mixed formulation is presented in this paper. The hypersingular and strongly singular kernels appearing in the formulation are regularized by using two terms of the displacement series expansion and one term of the traction expansion, at the collocation point. All the remaining integrals are analytically evaluated or transformed by means of Stokes’ theorem into regular or weakly singular integrals, which are numerically computed. The method is general and can be used for elements of any shape including quarter-point crack front elements. No change of co-ordinates is required for the integration. The formulation as presented in this paper is something as clear, general and easy to handle as the classical BE formulation. It is used in combination with three-dimensional quadratic and quarter-point elements to obtain accurate results for several different crack problems. Cracks in boundless and finite transversely isotropic domains are studied. The meshes are simple and include only discretization of the crack and the external boundary. The obtained results are in good agreement with those existing in the literature