Viscoelastic composite with a cracked layer under anti-plane shear

A viscoelastic cracked sandwich composite under anti-plane load is presented via the application of the Laplace transform and the complex variable formulation. Using a special technique of analytical continuation associated with the method of image, the triple-layered problem is reduced to a singular function by simple algebraic manipulations. The superposition method and the singular integral equation is applied to deal with the concentrated load and crack problem. Finally, some typical viscoelastic models and its corresponding stresses and stress intensity factors are also discussed. The results show that the time dependent stress intensity factor is affected by the relative strength of creep compliances of each layer.