Three-dimensional elastic crack tip interactions with shear transformation strains

Abstract Three-dimensional elastic interactions between a half-plane crack and sources of internal stress such as unconstrained shear transformation strains are analysed using Bueckner's recent “weight function” method of three-dimensional crack analysis. Analytical expressions arc given for the stress intensity factors induced along the crack front by unconstrained shear transformation strains for several simple shapes of the transformation domain centred at the origin. When the centre of the transformation domain is not coincident with the origin of coordinates analytical expressions are too cumbersome to be of much practical value. In such instances, numerical results are presented for transformation domains in the shape of a sphere and an oblate spheroid. The influence of the orientation of the latter is also studied.