STRESS INTENSITY ANALYSES ON TENSION OF A FINITE THICKNESS PLATE WITH2 COPLANAR SEMIELLIPTIC SURFACE CRACKS

This paper analyzes the interactions of two coplanar semi-elliptical s urface cracks located, respectively, at the front and back surfaces in a finite thickness plate under uniform tension. Few numerical solutio ns appear to be available in the literature so far for this kind of in teraction. The analyzed ratios of crack depth to crack length (b(1)/a( 1), b(2)/a(2)) are 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0; the minimum relative distances b etween two cracks (s(2)/b(min)) range from 0.5 to 2.0. In total, 18 cr ack configurations are analyzed. The mode I stress intensity factors a long the crack front and the interacting coefficient of two cracks are presented. The numerical analyses are carried out by the hybrid bound ary element method. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd