  This paper presents a technique for stress and fracture analysis by using the
scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) with quadtree mesh of high-order
elements. The cells of the quadtree mesh are modelled as scaled boundary
polygons that can have any number of edges, be of any high orders and represent
the stress singularity around a crack tip accurately without asymptotic
enrichment or other special techniques. Owing to these features, a simple and
automatic meshing algorithm is devised. No special treatment is required for
the hanging nodes and no displacement incompatibility occurs. Curved boundaries
and cracks are modelled without excessive local refinement. Five numerical
examples are presented to demonstrate the simplicity and applicability of the
proposed technique.
