International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 29 (2002), Issue 1, Pages 31-42
doi:10.1155/S0161171202004982
Interaction between line cracks in an orthotropic layer
Department of Mathematics, B.P. Poddar Institute of Management and Technology Poddar Vihar, 137, VIP Road, Calcutta 52, India
Received 19 April 2000
Copyright © 2002 Subir Das. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
We deal with the interaction between three coplanar Griffith
cracks located symmetrically in the mid plane of an orthotropic
layer of finite thickness 2h. The Fourier transform technique
is used to reduce the elastostatic problem to the solution of a
set of integral equations which have been solved by using the
finite Hilbert transform technique and Cooke's result. The
analytical expressions for the stress intensity factors at the
crack tips are obtained for large h. Numerical values of the
interaction effect have been computed for and results show that
interaction effects are either shielding or amplification
depending on the location of each crack with respect to each other
and crack tip spacing as well as the thickness of the layer.