SEDL / STP / STP1389-EB / STP14808S

Investigation of a New Analytical Method for Treating Kinked Cracks in a Plate

TerMaath, SC
Graduate research associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Phoenix, SL
Professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Pages: 17    Published: Jan 2000

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Abstract

A new analytical method for treating kinked and branched cracks is investigated to understand its subtleties and their effects on accuracy and efficiency. Based on a weighted superposition approach, this method uses analytical functions built from opening displacement profiles to determine full stress and displacement fields in a linearly elastic two-dimensional infinite plate containing interacting kinked and branched cracks under far field loading. In addition, results include stress intensity factors at tip and kink locations. Rapid convergence is achieved for few degrees of freedom yielding crack face tractions consistent with those prescribed. Moreover, this method involves no numerical integration, eliminating unnecessary computational errors. The features of this method are demonstrated by the solution of a V-shaped crack. The method yields stress intensity factor results that are in agreement with a particular case found in a well-known handbook.