A hybrid XFEM –Phase field (Xfield) method for crack propagation in brittle elastic materials

The present work proposes a novel method for the simulation of crack propagation in brittle elastic materials that combines two of the most popular approaches in literature. A large scale displacement solution is obtained with the well known extended finite elements method (XFEM), while propagation is governed by the solution of a local phase field problem at the tip scale. The method, which we will refer to as Xfield, is here introduced and tested in 2D under mixed modes I and II loads. The main features and the capability of the Xfield to efficiently simulate crack propagation are shown in some numerical benchmarks.