WEIGHT-FUNCTIONS APPLIED TO FATIGUE-CRACK GROWTH ANALYSIS

An overview is presented of studies conducted at the University of Pis a on the Weight Function technique as applied to Fatigue Crack Grown a nalysis. The fundamental theoretical aspects of the technique are summ arised, discussing some recent methods for the determination of the We ight Function. The application of the technique to non-linear (contact ) problems and to the evaluation of the crack tip stress field is also discussed. It is shown that the Weight Function method allows one to efficiently consider many crack propagation problems, some examples of which are provided.