STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS OF 2 INTERNAL ELLIPTIC CRACKS IN 3-DIMENSIONAL SOLID

A stress investigation for the problem of a three-dimensional infinite isotropic solid weakened by two coplanar elliptical internal cracks has been carried out in this paper. The two elliptical cracks have different sizes, but are located in the same plane. The stress applied on the matrix at infinity is uniform and perpendicular to the plane of the cracks. The superposition principle of the elasticity theory and Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method are employed for the stress analysis. The approximate analytical solutions for the stress intensity factors on the boundaries of the cracks are obtained in the form of a simple series which concerns the ratios of the crack sizes to the distance between the centers of the two cracks. Numerical examples are given for different configurations and have shown that the interaction between the cracks is strongly affected by the center distance of the two cracks.