STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF GRIFFITH CRACKS IN AN INITIALLY STRESSED NEO-HOOKEAN SOLID.

The paper considers the plane strain problem of determining the stress distribution in the vicinity of Griffith cracks, located on a single line in an initially stressed neo-Hookean elastic medium, subjected to arbitrary surface tractions. Formulas are derived for the stress field in terms of stress discontinuities and dislocation densities on the crackline. Detailed consideration is given to the case when there is a single crack in the infinite medium. Closed form formulas are obtained for the case when the surface tractions are in the form of polynomials. The problem of partially closed Griffith crack is also discussed.