Numerical computation of the crack development and SIF in composite materials with XFEM and SFEM

The lifetime of most engineering structures and components is known to depend on the presence of defects, such as holes, cracks, or voids usually introduced during a manufacturing process. In many cases, the crack growth, extension and propagation within a body, still remains a challenging problem in fracture mechanics. The present paper proposes the application of the level set method combined with the numerical extended finite element method...