UC Irvine

The aim of this thesis is to numerically evaluate the mixed-mode Stress Intensity Factors (SIFs) of complex 3D structural geometries with arbitrary 3D cracks using the Symmetric Galerkin Boundary Element Method-Finite Element Method (SGBEM-FEM) Alternating Method. Various structural geometries with different loading scenarios and crack configurations were examined in this thesis to understand the behavior and trends of the mixed-mode SIFs as well as the fatigue life for these complex structural geometries. Although some 3D structures have empirical and numerical solutions that are readily available in the open literature, some do not; therefore this thesis presents the results of fracture and fatigue analyses of these 3D complex structures using the SGBEM-FEM Alternating Method to serve as reference for future studies.

Furthermore, there are advantages of using the SGBEM-FEM Alternating Method compared to traditional FEM methods. For example, the fatigue-crack-growth and fatigue life can be better estimated for a structure because different fatigue models (i.e. Walker, Paris, and NASGRO) can be used within the same framework of the SGBEM-FEM Alternating Method. The FEM (un-cracked structure)/BEM(crack model) meshes are modeled independently, which speeds up the computation process and reduces the cost of human labor. A simple coarse mesh can be used for all fracture and fatigue analyses of complex structures. In this thesis, simple coarse meshes were used for 3D complex structures, which were below 5000 elements as compared to traditional FEM, which require meshes where the elements range on the order of ~250,000 to ~106 and sometimes even more than that.