Computations of Singular Stresses Along Three-Dimensional Corner Fronts by a Super Singular Element Method

Abstract

In order to consider corner configurations with straight corner fronts in three-dimensional (3D) solids, a super polygonal prismatic element containing a straight corner front is established by using the numerical eigensolutions of singular stress fields and the Hellinger–Reissner variational principle. Singular stresses near the corner front subject to far-field boundary conditions can be obtained by incorporating the super singular element with conventional 3D brick elements. The numerical studies are conducted to demonstrate the simplicity of the proposed technique in handling fracture problems of 3D corner configurations and cracks. The usage of the super singular element can avoid mesh refinement near the corner front domain that is necessary for conventional and enriched finite element methods, and lead to high accuracy and fast convergence. Compared with the conventional finite element methods and existing analytical methods, the present method is more suitable for dealing with complicated problems of stress singularity in elasticity including multiple defects.