Crack edge displacement and elastic constant determination for an orthotropic material

A method for determining the elastic constants of an isotropic material, ba sed on crack edge displacement data, is extended to an orthotropic material . Complex potentials are used to obtain the stresses and displacements for plane strain. Mode I crack problems in three mutually orthogonal planes are considered and solved. In particular, the expressions of crack edge displa cements are obtained in an explicit form. An iterative statistical identifi cation method, based on a Bayesan approach, is used to identify the elastic constants of an orthotropic medium from the Mode I crack displacements mea sured from the mid-point of the crack. Some graphics are displayed to illus trate the convergence of the pertinent parameters and the approach of the a nalytical displacements to their experimental values. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.