Material-dependent crack-tip enrichment functions in XFEM for modeling interfacial cracks in bimaterials

A novel set of enrichment functions within the framework of the extended finite element method is proposed for linear elastic fracture analysis of interface cracks in bimaterials. The motivation for the new enrichment set stems from the revelation that the accuracy and conditioning of the widely accepted 12-fold bimaterial enrichment functions significantly deteriorates with the increase in material mismatch. To this end, we propose an 8-fold material-dependent enrichment set, derived from the analytical asymptotic displacement field, that well captures the near-tip oscillating singular fields of interface cracks, including the transition to weak discontinuities of bimaterials. The performance of the proposed material-dependent enrichment functions is studied on 2 benchmark examples. Comparisons are made with the 12-fold bimaterial enrichment as well as the classical 4-fold homogeneous branch functions, which have also been used for bimaterials. The numerical studies clearly demonstrate the superiority of the new enrichment functions, which yield the most accurate results but with less number of degrees of freedom and significantly improved conditioning than the 12-fold functions.