The singular function boundary integral method for biharmonic problems with crack singularities

We use the singular function boundary integral method (SFBIM) to solve two model fracture problems on the plane. In the SFBIM, the solution is approximated by the leading terms of the local asymptotic solution expansion, which are also used to weight the governing biharmonic equation in the Galerkin sense. The discretized equations are reduced to boundary integrals by means of the divergence theorem and the Dirichlet boundary conditions are weakly enforced by means of Lagrange multipliers. The main advantage of the method is that the leading stress intensity factors (SIFs) are calculated directly together with the Lagrange multipliers, i.e. no postprocessing of the numerical solution is necessary. The numerical results for the two model problems show the fast convergence of the method and compare well with those of the collocation Trefftz method. r 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.