ESTIMATING THE ELASTIC INTERACTION FACTORS OF 2 COPLANAR SURFACE CRACKS UNDER MODE-I LOAD

Two cracks sufficiently close together will interact by causing the st ress intensity factor at the tips of each to increase. The amount of t his increase can be quantified through the use of interaction factors. This paper studies the form of these for the important and practical special case where the cracks have a semi-elliptical shape. A continuo us method of approximate solution is proposed in this paper, and it is shown to be effective in the closeness of its predictions to those in the literature, and to our own finite element analyses. The work is a precursor to an assessment when cracks are close enough for interacti on to need evaluation. This forms the subject of a companion paper.