This project introduces a new, freely distributed plug-in to simulate fatigue crack growth with the commercial FE code Abaqus. The plug-in includes five different fatigue crack growth models and relies on the extended FE method to simulate crack propagation. The plug-in is limited to 2D analyses at the moment, but covers all necessary steps for fatigue crack growth simulations, from creating the geometry to job submission and post-processing. The implementation of the plug-in is validated by comparing its predictions to analytical and experimental results.
Keep in mind that this version of the plug-in only works with Abaqus 2018. So, if you are using a more recent version of Abaqus, use other versions of the plug-in shared here.
For educational and research purposes only.
Cite this article if you use this plug-in:
Malekan, M., Khosravi, A. & St-Pierre, L. An Abaqus plug-in to simulate fatigue crack growth. Engineering with Computers (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-021-01321-x