On interacting cracks and complex crack configurations in linear elastic media

Abstract A general and simple method is presented for the determination of stress intensity factors in elasticity problems involving several interacting cracks and complex crack shapes. The method uses a superposition scheme and an approximation of certain unknown crack-line tractions by a series of base functions. Crack interaction is accounted for by the stresses generated by an isolated line crack at a location of another crack when the former is subjected to the combination of base functions. The crack-line tractions are determined from the solution of a system of linear algebraic equations. Several examples which illustrate special forms of the method are presented. These include configurations like H-crack shapes motivated by studies in fracture of fibrous metal matrix composites. Comparison of results with available solutions shows that the method gives accurate results even when very few base functions are selected in the analysis.