Patent Document ID: 7516053
Application ID: 11364647
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of simulating fracture propagation in a brittle cohesive material, said method comprising: receiving, in a computing device with an application module for simulating fracture propagation in a brittle cohesive material installed thereon, three sets of a fracture energy release rate and a critical separation, each of the three sets corresponding to respective one of three fracture modes of the brittle cohesive material, wherein the three fracture modes comprise an opening mode, a sliding mode and a tearing mode, denoted by Mode-I, Mode-II and Mode-III, respectively; defining a normalized traction-separation curve for the brittle cohesive material; calculating three maximum tractions each for said respective one of the three fracture modes; selecting a fracture damage failure criterion; performing a time domain analysis of the fracture propagation in the brittle cohesive material, the time domain analysis comprising a plurality of solution cycles; and calculating, at each of the solution cycles, an actual traction of said each of the three fracture modes based upon the fracture damage failure criterion chosen, wherein the actual traction is used for determining fracture propagation at said each of the solution cycles such that the fracture propagation can be graphically displayed to a monitor coupled to the computing device.