Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Interface Crack Propagation

In this communication, a class of non-symmetric/symmetric discontinuous Galerkin (dG) methods with interior penalties for interfacial fracture problems is presented. The behaviour of the interface is determined by means of cohesive models depending on the displacement jumps and tractions on the element boundaries. The proposed dG finite element formulation with cohesive models can simplify the computational modeling of failure along well-defined surfaces. Two computational model problems are presented to illustrate the performances of the discontinuous Galerkin method.