Journal of Advanced Research in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Volume 5, Issue 1&2 - 2018, Pg. No. 1-5

Peer Reviewed Journal
Research Article

Comparative Study between the J Integral and the

Displacement jump methods in the Case of a Cracked
Steel Structure under Static Tensile Loading
Nehar Kheira Camellia
University of Djelfa, PB 3117, Djelfa, Algeria.

Abstract
The modeling of cracking is a very important issue for the structural analysis, moreover, it is a complex
problem on the numerical level. Currently, conventional finite element methods are very dependent on
the mesh size of the model and require a specific precision in mesh sensitivity studies and an increased
computation time. New approaches based on the extended finite element method X-FEM offer a promising
alternative in crack modeling and they are currently the subject of numerous work.

This article reviews the modeling of cracked steel plates by the X-FEM and the computation of the stress
intensity factor (SIF). After a review of the mathematical bases of fracture mechanics, the J integral method
and the displacement jump method, numerical simulations of steel structures under static tensile loading
were performed. We found that the displacement jump method provides better accuracy than the J integral
method, which proves the effectiveness of displacement jump methods and their superior properties in
certain specific situations.

Keywords: Modeling, Cracks, X-FEM, Steel, FIC, J Integral, Displacement jump

Introduction This method was developed in 1999 by Belytschko and

The analysis of metal structures fracture is an important
issue in the field of civil engineering[1]. In recent years the
steel has been increasingly used for the construction of
complex structures: high buildings, long-span bridges,
towers, …etc. These structures, being of complex geometry
and subjected to loads that can cause the material to
conditions beyond its elastic limit.
For these situations, the conventional calculation methods
are not sufficient to give a good representation of the
state of cracking structures. The quantification of these
phenomena is necessary to achieve these structures in a
safe, economical and sustainable way will have to be done
using numerical methods, especially the extended finite
element method (X-FEM).
Black[2], and Moës et al.[3]. It allows to represent the crack
independently of the mesh. Based on a classical finite
element, it adds enrichment functions to take into account
the discontinuity of the displacement field along the crack
and its asymptotic shape at the crack tip. Its main objective
is to predict the evolution of a crack until the complete
fracture of the structure[4]. With the development of X-FEM
and the use of fracture mechanics, which provide the
essential basis for crack modeling, we can determine the
stress intensity factor (SIF) which is the most important
parameter in our work.
The objective of the present work is therefore the numerical
evaluation of the SIF for cracked steel plates by comparing
the obtained results using the global approach of J integral
and the local approach of the displacement jump with the
exact solution.

E-mail Id: camellia90@hotmail.fr

How to cite this article: Nehar KC. Comparative Study between the J Integral and the Displacement jump methods in the Case of a
Cracked Steel Structure under Static Tensile Loading. J Adv Res Civil Envi Engr 2018; 5(1&2): 1-5.

Copyright (c) 2018 Journal of Advanced Research in Civil and Environmental Engineering
(E ISSN: 2393-8307 I P ISSN: 2394-7020)
Nehar KC
J. Adv. Res. Civil Envi. Engr. 2018; 5(1&2) 2

Modeling of cracks by the X-FEM

In fracture mechanics, it is the crack and its effect on the
different fields (displacement, deformation, etc.) that one
wishes to represent. Thus, based on the method of the
partition of the unit[5], the functions to enrich the base of
the solutions must be able to represent on the one hand
the discontinuity of the field displacement at the passage
of the crack far from the point and on the other hand the
singularity of the field displacement around the crack tip.

The extended finite element method is based on this

principle. To represent the crack lips, degrees of freedom (a) □ Nodes enriched by the Heaviside functions,
representing the jump of displacement are added[3]. ○Nodes enriched by the asymptotic functions
These degrees of freedom are obtained by multiplying a
conventional finite element form function by a Heaviside Figure 1.Node enrichment strategy
H type function introduced in the following manner: Computation of the stress intensity factor
+1 Si x est au-dessus de Γ
H ( x) =  (1) For a plate with finite width 2W contain a crack length 2a
−1 Si x est en dessous de Γ
for central crack and a for an edge crack and subjected by
where Γ represents the geometry of the crack and x the uniformed tensile stress σ (see Figure 2.a and 2.b) the exact
position vector for a point of Ω. solution of stress intensity factor is evaluated according to
the following equations[7, 8].
On the same principle, the singular field in the vicinity of
the crack tip can be approached by means of a base of
enrichment functions representing the asymptotic fields
of a crack. The element containing the crack tip is then
enriched by singular functions (see Fig. 1). Many works [2,
3, 6] have shown that the most suitable base is composed
of four singular functions with an evolution in √ r:
 θ  θ  θ  θ  
[ Fα ( x), α =1 − 4] = r sin   , r cos   , r sin   sin (θ ) , r cos   cos (θ )  (2)
 2 2 2 2 

Where (r,Ɵ) are the local coordinates related to the crack

tip. Figure 2.Cracked plate: (a) edge crack, (b) central
crack, (c) Inclined central crack
Le champ de déplacement est alors décrit par l’approximation
éléments finis étendus suivante: Finite width plates with central crack

  The SIF in this case is given according to the following

 4  formula:
h β (3)
u= (x) ∑ N I (x)  uI + H (x)a I + ∑ Fα (x)bI 
I ∈N  
  α= 1 
I ∈N e  (4)
 I ∈N f 
 
Where :
where uI are the finite element conventional nodal
displacement degrees of freedom, aI, the additional degrees a
of freedom to model the discontinuity associated to the 1 + 0.256a + 1.152a 2 + 12.2a 3 ,
f (a ) = a= (5)
2W
crack tip, and bI, the additional degrees of freedom to
model the singularity of crack tip. N is the set of mesh Finite width plates with edge crack
nodes, Ne is the set of nodes contained in elements crossed
by the crack; Nf is the set of nodes associated to elements And in the case of an edge crack (Fig 2.b) the SIF is given
containing the crack tip. as follows:

ISSN: 2393-8307
 Nehar KC
3 J. Adv. Res. Civil Envi. Engr. 2018; 5(1&2)

(6)
K I = σ π a f (a ) Where: �u y (r ,θ )� is the displacement jump.
Where : Example of a case study
a
1.12 − 0.231a + 10.55a 2 − 21.72a 3 + 30.39a 4 ,
f (a ) = a= (7) After presenting the necessary theories, a case study is
2W
performed. A civil engineering structure has been the
Finite width plates with inclined central crack subject of a parametric study of the proposed modeling.
For the inclined central crack (Fig 2.c), the SIF is given as: It consists of a steel sheet element of width 2W = 1.5
(8) m, height 2H= 3 m and thickness ep = 0.015 m contain a
K I = σ π a f (a ) cos θ
2
crack length 2a, in this work we made a 2D computation
Where : (see Fig. 3).

a Three cases of the crack location are considered; edge crack,

1 + 0.256a + 1.152a 2 + 12.2a 3 ,
f (a ) = a =(9) central crack and inclined central crack. The structure is
2W
subjected by uniformed tensile stress σ =100 Pa (see Fig.
Numerical calculation of the SIF 3.b and 5.c).

To calculate the stress intensity factor numerically, two The material properties are given by:
techniques are the most used by researchers; the J integral
method and the displacement jump[4, 9]. Modulus of elasticity E = 21.1010 Pa, poisson’s ratio ν = 0.30.

For the first method, we use the interaction integral defined

for two states of loading 1 and 2[3, 10]:
(2) (1)
∂u i ∂u
∫ [W δ 1 j −σ ij + σ ij(2) i ]n jd Γ (10)
(1)
I =
(1+ 2) (1,2)

Γ ∂ x1 ∂ x1

where: W(1,2) is the interaction strain energy density.

Then the stress intensity factor becomes: Figure 3.Cracked steel structure “steel sheet”: (a) edge
* crack, (b) central crack, (c) Inclined central crack.
I mod eI E
KI = (11) A parametric study of the existence of the crack and the
2 SIF variation evaluated by J integral and displacement jump
where: ImodeI: is the interaction integral of mode I. methods is conducted.

Results and discussion

(12) Effect of the crack length

The second method is based on the displacement jump Figures 4.a and 4.b represent the variation of the normalized
between the two crack sides by employing the displacement SIFs with respect to the normalized crack length a/2W
field near the crack tip given by Irwin to determine DSIF[11, 12]: varying from 0 to 0.95 for both cases of the crack location;
central and edge crack, respectively. These SIFs are
E* 2π calculated using two methods of resolution which are
KI = �u y (r , θ )� (13) the J integral and the displacement jump.
8 r

ISSN: 2393-8307
Nehar KC
J. Adv. Res. Civil Envi. Engr. 2018; 5(1&2)
Figure 4. Normalized SIFs according to the adimensional crack length a/2W: (a) Edge crack (b) Central crack
From these figures we can see that the SIFs increase with
the crack length, this increase is more important with the
edge crack or we can notice that normalized SIF reaches
the value 92 when at a central crack it does not exceed
8.5, i.e when the crack length increases we have a risk of
structural failure for this reason the SIF increases and this
is obtained by the two methods of resolution J integral and
displacement jump. So, we can say that the opening crack
is more dangerous than the central crack.
We can also notice that the SIFs obtained are close to the
exact solution except for the results of J integral method
from a/2W = 0.90 that are not stable because in this case
the radius of the last method exceeds the edge of the
structure, which gives us erroneous results while the
displacement jump method remains stable because it
uses only the crack tip element in the calculation.
Effect of the inclination of crack
Figure represent the variation of the normalized SIFs with
respect to the angle of inclination θ varying from 0 to 75°
for the central crack length 2a= 0.90 W, i.e, when we have
unstable results of the J integral method.
Figure 5.Normalized SIFs according to the angle of
inclination θ using J integral and displacement jump
methods
ISSN: 2393-8307
4
We can notice that in the first angles Ɵ = 0, 15, 30° the
results of the J integral method are not close to those of
the displacement jump method and the solution exact and
this is due as we have explained before to the radius of
this method which exceeds the edges of the plate while
the results of the displacement jump method are in good
correlation.
Conclusion
In this paper, we have studied the modeling of cracked
structures using the X-FEM by the evaluation of the stress
intensity factor in the static case.
A parametric study was conducted on a practical problem of
a cracked steel sheet. Several configurations were processed
to determine the most severe situation by calculating the
SIF and to show the utility of using simplified modeling
techniques, such as the J integral and the displacement
jump methods, without loss of accuracy.
• In conclusion, we can summarize this work as follows:
• It consists to model the structure by X-FEM and
calculating the SIFs.
• A basic theory of fracture mechanics, extended finite
element method, two methods of resolution J integral
and displacement jump were presented.
• We have treated an example case of a cracked metal
structure.
• Given the quality and richness of the results, we can
conclude that the model presented has given us full
satisfaction.
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Date of Submission: 2018-06-26
Date of Acceptance: 2018-07-08
ISSN: 2393-8307