GRADIENT ELASTICITY WITH SURFACE-ENERGY - MODE-III CRACK PROBLEM

In this paper an anisotropic strain-gradient dependent theory of elast icity is exploited, which contains both volumetric and surface energy gradient dependent terms. The theory is applied to the solution of the mode-III crack problem and is extending previous results by Aifantis and coworkers. The two boundary value problems corresponding to the '' unclamped'' and ''damped'' crack tips, respectively, are solved analyt ically. It turns out that the first problem is physically questionable for some values of the surface energy parameter, whereas the second b oundary value problem is leading to a cusping crack, which is consiste nt with Barenblatt's theory without the incorporation of artificial as sumptions. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd