In sharp indentation of brittle materials, a complex three-dimensional stress field evolves in the material beneath the indenter and may cause cracking. During unloading, a tensile residual stress field drives the crack to its final semi-elliptical shape. The so-induced crack can be used for e.g. crack growth experiments, but for which the initial crack size and shape have to be known. For the analysis of the crack evolution in a material subject to a complex stress field, which changes with position, time and crack advancement, the extended finite element method (XFEM) represents a useful tool.
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