COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF ELASTIC AND PLASTIC MULTIPLE CRACKS BY THE FUNDAMENTAL-SOLUTIONS

The fundamental solutions of elasticity are used to establish a numeri cal method for elastic and plastic multiple crack problems in two dime nsions. The continuous distributions of the point forces, dislocations , and the plastic sources are used systematically to model the crack, non-crack boundary, and the plastic deformation. Use of these singular ities are guided strictly by the physical interpretation of the proble m. We adopt Muskhelishvili's complex variable formalism that facilitat e the analytical evaluation of the integrals representing the continuo us distributions of the singularities. The resulting numerical method is concise and accurate enough to be used for elastic and plastic mult iple crack problems.