In this study, we present a novel finite element approach to simulate crack propagation in shell structures. A local spider-web mesh is placed at the tip of a crack propagating through a global background mesh. Interface shell elements with assumed natural strains are used to connect a non-matching interface between the background mesh and the local spider-web mesh. Interface shell elements are also employed for trimmed shell elements created by cutting shell elements with the crack line. Numerical simulation of crack propagation in shell structures can be easily performed by moving the local spider-web mesh with an incremental crack growth. Numerical experiments show that the present method is very efficient and effective to accurately simulate crack propagation in shell structures without significantly increasing computational burden and implementation complexity of remeshing process.

中文翻译：

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基于界面壳单元的壳结构裂纹扩展数值模拟

在这项研究中，我们提出了一种新颖的有限元方法来模拟壳结构中的裂纹扩展。局部蜘蛛网网格放置在通过全局背景网格传播的裂缝的尖端。具有假定自然应变的界面壳单元用于连接背景网格和局部蜘蛛网网格之间的非匹配界面。界面壳单元也用于通过使用裂纹线切割壳单元创建的修剪壳单元。通过移动局部蜘蛛网网格并增加裂纹扩展，可以轻松地对壳结构中的裂纹扩展进行数值模拟。