Material Point Method Calculations with Explicit Cracks, Fracture Parameters, and Crack Propagation

A new particle-based method, the material point method (MPM), has recently been extended to handle explicit cracks in a new algorithm called CRAMP or “CRAcks with Material Points.” This new method has several advantages for numerical work on fracture. Compared to finite element analysis, CRAMP can handle cracks with similar algorithmic efficiency, but is better at handling crack surface contact and crack propagation in arbitrary directions. Compared to meshless methods, CRAMP can handle arbitrary crack propagation with similar ease, but is better at inclusion of explicit cracks. MPM/CRAMP also works well for calculating key fracture parameters such as J integral, stress intensity factors, or crack-opening displacements. This extended abstract summarizes the approach of the MPM/CRAMP method and illustrates it with several example calculations including crack propagation.