Stress intensity factor around a Griffith crack in an orthotropic punched layer

A study is made of the plane strain problem to determine the stress intensi ty factor for a Griffith crack in an orthotropic elastic layer with punches located along the boundaries of the layer. The problem is reduced to the s olution of a pair of simultaneous singular integral equations with the Cauc hy type singularities. These integral equations are then solved approximate ly by using the Chebyshev polynomials. An expression for the stress intensi ty factor (SIF) for the case of a general loading is obtained. Numerical re sults for the SIF are presented graphically for some particular cases of in terest. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.