This important textbook provides an introduction to the concepts of the newly developed extended finite element method (XFEM) for fracture analysis of structures, as well as for other related engineering applications.
One of the main advantages of the method is that it avoids any need for remeshing or geometric crack modelling in numerical simulation, while generating discontinuous fields along a crack and around its tip. The second major advantage of the method is that by a small increase in number of degrees of freedom, far more accurate solutions can be obtained. The method has recently been extended to nonlinear materials and other disciplines such as modelling contact and interface, simulation of inclusions and holes, moving and changing phase problems, and even to multiscale analyses.
The book is self contained, with summaries of both classical and modern computational techniques. The main chapters include a comprehensive range of numerical examples describing various features of XFEM.

This book describes the basics and developments of the new XFEM approach to fracture analysis of composite structures and materials. It provides state of the art techniques and algorithms for fracture analysis of structures including numeric examples at the end of each chapter as well as an accompanying website which will include MATLAB resources, executables, data files, and simulation procedures of XFEM. * The first reference text for the extended finite element method (XFEM) for fracture analysis of structures and materials * Includes theory and applications, with worked numerical problems and solutions, and MATLAB examples on an accompanying website with further XFEM resources * Provides a comprehensive overview of this new area of research, including a review of Fracture Mechanics, basic through to advanced XFEM theory, as well as current problems and applications * Includes a chapter on the future developments in the field, new research areas and possible future applications of the method