Modeling strong/weak discontinuities by local mesh refinement variable-node XFEM with object-oriented implementation

In this paper, we present a Matlab object-oriented implementation of the variable-node extended finite element method (XFEM), which is enhanced by local mesh refinement technique, for modeling strong and weak discontinuities such as cracks, inclusions, and voids. An easy-to-use local mesh refinement scheme is thus proposed, in which the variable-node elements play an important role as they are integrated into the model for the purpose of...