Article
Keywords:
mechanical problems in fractured rock; plane strain; extended finite element method; COMSOL Java API
Summary:
This paper presents the main concept and several key features of the user-defined interface of COMSOL Java API for the solution of mechanical problems in fractured rock. This commercial computational system based on FEM has yet to incorporate fractures in mechanical problems.
Our aim is to solve a 2D mechanical problem with a fracture which is defined separately from finite-element discretization and the fracture properties are included through the constitutive laws. This will be performed based on the principles of the extended finite element method as a way of fracture description, enrichment functions for rock elements containing fractures, etc.
We present an approach to describing a simple mechanical problem in COMSOL Java API together with a proposal of a solution method, and we also demonstrate the potential of COMSOL Java API for solving more complicated problems with fractures.