A review of fatigue crack propagation modelling techniques using FEM and XFEM

Fatigue is one of the main causes of failures in mechanical and structural systems. Offshore installations, in particular, are susceptible to fatigue failure due to their exposure to the combination of wind loads, wave loads and currents. In order to assess the safety of the components of these installations, the expected lifetime of the component needs to be estimated. The fatigue life is the sum of the number of loading cycles required for a...