Boundary element methods for the analysis of crack growth in non-linear fracture

In this paper, a boundary element method of simulating crack growth in the presence of residual stress fields is presented. The method presented is an elastoplastic fracture mechanics (EPFM) approach for crack growth simulation. A nonlinear J-integral is used in the fatigue life calculations. This is shown to agree well with experimental measurements of crack growth in prestressed open hole specimens. Results are also pre- sented for the case where the prestress is applied to specimens which have been precracked.