By default, XFEM crack growth is active in all steps. However, if an analysis that includes XFEM crack growth fails to converge, you can deactivate the crack in a selected step and allow the analysis to reach equilibrium before reactivating the crack in a subsequent step.
To deactivate and activate XFEM crack growth during a step:
Create an interaction in the initial step. For more information, see “Creating interactions,” Section 15.12.1.
Select an interaction type of XFEM crack growth, and click Continue.
From the Edit Interaction dialog box, select the XFEM crack that you want to activate or deactivate. You can select only cracks that allow crack growth.
Click OK to create the interaction.
Open the Interaction Manager. For more information, see “Managing objects in the Interaction module,” Section 15.9.1.
Select the XFEM crack growth interaction in the desired step, and click Edit.
From the Edit Interaction dialog box, toggle off (or on) Allow crack growth to deactivate (or activate) the XFEM crack growth in the selected step, and click OK.
The Interaction Manager displays Modified to indicate the status of the XFEM crack growth in that step. Abaqus propagates the state of the XFEM crack growth (activated or deactivated) to subsequent steps.