Stress intensity factors for a moving interfacial Griffith crack in composite media

This paper deals with two plane strain problems for determining stress inte nsity factors (SIF) involved in a moving interfacial Griffith crack in comp osite orthotropic media. The problems are reduced to solution of a pair of simultaneous singular integral equations with Cauchy type singularities. Ex pressions for SIF for general and particular cases of the problems are obta ined. Several special and limiting cases of these problems are discussed. N umerical results for some particular cases are also presented by graphical representations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.