Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel parallel implementation of
extrinsic initially rigid cohesive elements in an explicit finite
element solver designed for the simulation of dynamic fracture
events. The implementation is based on activiating instead of
inserting the cohesive elements and uses ParFUM, a parallel
framework specifically developed for simulations involving
unstructured meshes. Issues associated with the spatial and
temporal convergence of the resulting scheme are discussed,
together with aspects of the parallel implementation. We present
scalability results obtained with the parallel cohesive finite
element code which is validated by simulating the trapping of a
crack along an inclined material interface.