Boundary Element Implementation of a Rough Crack Constitutive Model

The boundary element application of a micromechanics based constitutive model for rough cracks previously developed by the authors is presented. This constitutive model considers the off-diagonal terms in the crack stiffness matrix, and it relates the normal and shear stresses on the rough crack to the corresponding displacement discontinuities. A brief introduction to the boundary element method is presented to illustrate the application of the constitutive model. Formulations are then developed for modeling discontinuities such as frictional interfaces present in continuous media. The constitutive model is used as a boundary condition to couple the subregions on either side of the discontinuity. Examples of boundary element modeling of frictional interfaces are then presented and discussed with respect to test results. It is shown that the constitutive model developed by the authors can be implemented in the boundary element method without any difficulty.