Study of some optimal XFEM type methods

Abstract

The XFEM method in fracture mechanics is revisited. A first improvement is considered using an enlarged fixed enrichment subdomain aroud the crack tip and a bonding condition for the corresponding degree of freedom. An efficient numerical integration rule is introduced for the nonsmooth enrichment functions. The lack of accuracy due to the transition layer between the enrichment aera and the rest of the domain leads to consider a pointwise matching condition at the boundary of the subdomain. An optimal numerical rate of convergence is then obtained using such a nonconformal method.