Stress intensity factors for a functionally graded material cylinder with an external circumferential crack

This paper presents mode I stress intensity factors for external circumfere ntially cracked hollow cylinders, which are assumed to be made of functiona lly graded material; and subjected to remote uniform tension. The conventio nal finite element method is improved by introducing isoparametric transfor mation for simulating the gradient variations of material properties in the finite elements. This improved finite element method is verified to be eff ective and efficient. Various types of functionally graded materials and di fferent gradient compositions for each type are investigated. The results s how that the material property distribution has a quite considerable influe nce on the stress intensity factors.