THREE DIMENSIONAL ELEMENT PARTITION METHOD AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF FRACTURES SUBJECTED TO COMPRESSIVE AND SHEAR STRESS

Numerical simulation for three dimensional fracture propagation is of great significance for practical engineering. To address the mesh modification problem in simulating fractures by finite element method (FEM), the present paper develops the three dimensional element partition method based on the two-dimensional element partition method. The three-dimensional element partition method takes advantage of the geometry character of the tetrahedron element and derives the stiffness matrix of the partitioned element. Through this method, the fracture problem could be simulated in the original meshing scheme, which makes the simulation of fracture more convineint and efficient. The simulation example demonstrates that the present method is feasible.