Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics Analysis Considering Material Inhomogeneity of Welded Joints

Professor Hiroshi Okada and his team from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Japan, are engaged in the field of computational fracture mechanics. This is an area of computational engineering that refers to the creation of numerical methods to approximate the crack evolutions predicted by new classes of fracture mechanics models. For many years, it has been used to determine stress intensity factors and, more recently, has expanded into the simulation of crack nucleation and propagation. In their work, the researchers are proposing new methods for fracture mechanics analysis and solid mechanics analysis.