STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS OF DOUBLE AND MULTIPLE EDGE CRACKS

In this paper stress intensity factors of double and multiple edge cra cks in a semiinfinite plate is considered. The problem is considered b y solving a system of hypersingular integral equations based on the bo dy force method. First, two edge cracks A and B having different crack lengths and inclination angles are analyzed and the effect of crack B upon crack A is investigated. Then, stress intensity factor (SIF) of crack A is found to be almost constant independent of the wide variati on of inclination angle B if the crack tip B is fixed. Second, periodi c edge cracks are systematically analyzed with varying the number, dis tance and angle of cracks. Then the interaction effect is found to app ear mostly from the distances of crack tip independent of the angle. N umerical results are also shown when crack parameters are slightly cha nged from average values in almost equally spaced multiple edge cracks .