ANALYSIS OF BIMATERIAL WEDGES USING A NEW SINGULAR FINITE-ELEMENT

This paper is concerned with the singular stress field at the vertex o f a bimaterial wedge under in-plane loading. The boundary value proble m is initially formulated in terms of the complex function method. The eigenequations are obtained using the continuity conditions along the interface and the traction-free conditions along the free edges, lead ing to the development of explicit expressions for the singular stress and displacement fields for a general bimaterial wedge. These express ions are then used to develop a new singular finite element. This elem ent enables the determination of the singular stress field and the ass ociated stress intensity factors reliably and efficiently. To establis h the validity of the method, test cases are examined and compared wit h existing solutions. The method is then applied to evaluate the effec t of the wedge geometry and the elastic mismatch upon the resulting st ress intensity factors.