Introduction
When modeling small scale crack growth with the extended finite element method, crack growth may occur within an element. This intra-element growth may be subjected to numerical noise resulting in a jagged crack growth path. While the overall trend of the crack path may be accurate, the non-smooth crack growth path makes the estimation of the number of elapsed cycles challenging. Here, a conjugate gradient approach is applied while leads to a smooth intra-element crack growth path. This method should enable more accurate estimation of the number of elapsed cycles when intra-element crack growth occurs.
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