Why is XFEM a revolutionary technique in modeling fracture?

Hi All,

Thank you for an overwhelming response to our first eSeminar of the year. We had close to 2000 registrations and the presentation was very well received. I am providing a brief recap of the webinar and including the recording as well as the pdf of the presentation.

eXtended Finite Element Method or XFEM is a revolutionary technique in the field of fracture mechanics since it lets one model a propagating crack without use of a focused mesh and without any previous knowledge of crack location. XFEM has several advantages over traditional techniques including ease of initial crack definition, improved convergence rates for stationary cracks and simpler mesh refinement studies. In this eSeminar we focused on basic XFEM concepts, damage modeling within XFEM and creating an XFEM crack growth model within Abaqus. There is also a short demonstration showing crack growth behavior in a three-point bend specimen.

In case you missed my seminar, here is a recording of the entire seminar as well as a pdf file of the presentation

http://media.3ds.com/support/simulia/public/webinars/xfem/