DRIVING-FORCE ANALYSIS IN AN INFINITE ANISOTROPIC PLATE WITH MULTIPLECRACK INTERACTIONS

The methodology and a rigorous solution formulation are presented for stress intensity factors (SIF's, k) and total strain energy release ra tes (SERR, G(T)) of a multicracked plate, that has fully interacting c racks and is subjected to a far-field arbitrary stress state. The fund amental perturbation problem is derived, and the steps needed to formu late the system of singular integral equations whose solution gives ri se to the evaluation of the SIF's are identified. Parametric studies a re conducted for two, three and four crack problems. The sensitivity a nd characteristics of the model is demonstrated.