AN ANALYSIS FOR 3-DIMENSIONAL CRACKS

A new method of analysis is proposed for an infinite solid containing an embedded plane crack of arbitrary shape. The analysis is fundamenta lly based on the body force method, but proper expressions of the body force densities are introduced and the stress conditions of the crack surface are replaced by the resultant force conditions in order to im prove the accuracy and validity of the method. Numerical results for t ypical crack problems, based on coarse mesh patterns, are shown to be in remarkable agreement with known solutions. The method is also appli ed to the bending of circular and rectangular cracks generated from co mpressive surface contacts for which reliable solutions have not vet b een proposed by any other methods. The results are found to be very di fferent from conventional free-surface solutions.