Finite element analysis of a thermally loaded interface crack in a ceramic coating

Abstract The finite element method is used to model the thermally induced stresses in an interface crack between a ceramic coating and a metallic substrate. This analysis uses finite heat transfer across the crack flanks, and the results indicate that modeling of the heat transfer across the crack faces is important to the evaluation of stresses near the crack tip. The complex stress intensity factor magnitude and phase angle were determined using several techniques, including the local collocation technique, all of which were found to be in reasonable agreement. The results show that the local collocation technique can be used successfully in the evaluation of stress intensity factors of bimaterial interface cracks.