On three-dimensional modelling of crack growth using partition of unity methods

This paper reviews different crack tracking techniques in three-dimensions applicable in the context of partition of unity methods especially meshfree methods Issues such as describing and tracking the crack surface are addressed A crack tracking procedure is proposed in detail and implemented in the context of the extended element-free Galerkin method (XEFG) Several three-dimensional cracking examples are compared to other results from the literature or the experimental data and show good agreemen