Abstract
In this paper, an improved conforming AFEM (C-AFEM) for efficient modeling of arbitrary crack propagation and branching is proposed and validated. An explicit formulation for branching cracks has been derived within the C-AFEM framework. The conjugate gradient method is integrated into the C-AFEM formulation to solve the local problem that consists of all elements traversed by single or multiple cracks. Multiple numerical evidences show that this new approach can substantially improve the modeling efficiency. The solution accuracy and numerical robustness are also significantly improved.
