STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS AT THE TIPS OF KINKED AND FORKED CRACKS

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses stress intensity at the tips of kinked and forked cracks. Among the fundamental problems that form the theoretical basis for studies of the paths of crack propagation and of the stability of cracks are the problems of the elastic fields around a long or semi-infinite crack with either a single kink or a fork at its tip. The chapter presents computations of the relevant stress intensity factors for these two problems.