INTERFACE CRACK IN A 3-PHASE COMPOSITE CONSTITUTIVE MODEL

An arc-shaped crack in fiber-reinforced composite material is the subject of this paper. A three-phase composite cylinder is taken as the material model to take into account the effect of surrounding fibers. Using Muskhelishvili's complex variable method, an exact elastic solution is derived based on the conventional crack opening assumption. The complex stress intensity factors for the interface crack, in the sense defined by Hutchinson, Mear, and Rice, are determined. Some numerical examples are given. It is shown that, as the volume concentration of the fiber is increased, the magnitude of the complex stress intensity factors varies considerably.