Th. Leek et Ic. Howard, RULES FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF INTERACTING SURFACE CRACKS UNDER MODE-I LOAD, International journal of pressure vessels and piping, 60(3), 1994, pp. 323-339
A review of the current widely used methods for the assessment of adja
cent and coplanar surface cracks under LEFM conditions shows them to b
e neither realistic nor always safe, having little scientific basis. S
ince such cracks can interact they cannot necessarily be assumed to be
independent, so improved methods of accounting for the interaction ar
e required and are provided by this work. In a companion paper a conti
nuous method of estimating the interaction factors for two coplanar su
rface cracks was developed and proven. This enables realistic predicti
ons of crack interaction and growth and is used as a basis for compari
son of simpler assessment methods, the crack interaction estimation be
ing somewhat cumbersome for general use. The assessment methods develo
ped are thus shown to be safe. Furthermore they are realistic and stra
ightforward to use. Cracks under tension, bending, and combined tensio
n and bending load are considered.