A GPU-Accelerated Three-Dimensional Crack Element Method for Transient Dynamic Fracture Simulation

2025-08-06

AI Summary

Addressing the challenge of efficiently and accurately simulating transient dynamic crack propagation—including single-crack growth and multi-branching—in quasi-brittle materials, this paper proposes a novel three-dimensional cracked element method. It is the first to enable autonomous, element-level crack growth and topological branching. A fracture energy release rate model is innovatively formulated based on cell-splitting topological evolution and coupled with GPU-accelerated parallelization, significantly enhancing computational efficiency and numerical stability for large-scale dynamic fracture simulations. The method accurately reproduces crack trajectories, branching onset times, and dynamic responses across multiple canonical benchmark problems. It ensures physical consistency, geometric flexibility, and robustness under sub-millisecond time steps. This work establishes a scalable, numerically grounded paradigm for engineering-scale dynamic fracture simulation.

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Abstract

This work presents a novel three-dimensional Crack Element Method (CEM) designed to model transient dynamic crack propagation in quasi-brittle materials efficiently. CEM introduces an advanced element-splitting algorithm that enables element-wise crack growth, including crack branching. Based on the evolving topology of split elements, an original formulation for computing the fracture energy release rate in three dimensions is derived. A series of benchmark examples is conducted to demonstrate that the proposed 3D CEM accurately simulates both single crack propagation and complex crack branching scenarios. Furthermore, all three-dimensional simulations are GPU-accelerated, achieving high levels of computational efficiency, consistency, and accuracy.

Problem

• Model transient dynamic crack propagation efficiently
• Develop element-splitting algorithm for crack growth
• GPU-accelerate 3D fracture simulations for efficiency

Innovation

• GPU-accelerated 3D crack element method
• Element-splitting algorithm for crack growth
• 3D fracture energy release rate formulation