CALCULATION OF THE STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR FOR ARBITRARY FINITE CRACKED BODY BY USING THE BOUNDARY WEIGHT FUNCTION-METHOD

An efficient boundary weight function method for the determination of stress intensity factors in a two-dimensional mixed mode cracked body with arbitrary shape and subjected to arbitrary loading is presented i n this study. The functional form of the boundary weight functions for modes I and II are successfully demonstrated by using the least squar es fitting procedure. Explicit boundary weight functions are presented for rectangular plates of finite width and length containing edge and central cracks. If the stress distribution of a cut out rectangular c racked plate from any arbitrary shape of cracked body subjected to arb itrary loading is determined, the stress intensity factors K-I and K-I I for the cracked body can be obtained from the predetermined boundary weight functions by a simple integration. Comparison from the literat ure of the calculated results with some solutions by other workers con firms the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed weight function meth od.