Investigation of the behavior of a Griffith crack at the interface of a layer bonded to a half plane using the Schmidt method for the opening crack mode

In this paper, the behavior of a Griffith crack at the interface of a layer boned to a half plane subjected to a uniform tension is investigated by use of the Schmidt method under the assumptions that the effect of the crack surface overlapping very near the crack tips is negligible and also there is a sufficiently large component of mode-I loading so that the crack essentially remains open. By use of the Fourier transform, the problem can be solved with the help of two pairs of dual integral equations in which the unknown variables are the jumps of the displacements across the crack surfaces. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of the displacements across the crack surfaces are expanded in a series of Jacobi polynomials. Numerical examples are provided to show the effects of the crack length, the thickness of the material layer and the materials constants upon the stress intensity factor of the crack. As a special case in our solution, we also give the solution of the ordinary crack in homogeneous materials. Contrary to the previous solution of the interface crack problem, it is found that the stress singularities of the present interface crack solution are similar with ones for the ordinary crack in homogeneous materials.     

Stress intensity factors for interface crack in finite size specimen using a generalized variational approach

A generalized variational approach together with eigenfunction expansion is applied to determine the stress intensity factors for interface crack in finite size specimen. Application is also made of the complex potentials such that a complex stress intensity factor with components corresponding to the Mode I and II stress intensity factors can be identified with one of the leading coefficients in the eigenfunction expansion. Obtained are the numerical values of the stress intensity factors for an interface edge crack in a bimaterial rectangular specimen. The outside boundary is subjected to uniform stress normal and parallel to the crack. Solutions are also obtained for the same crack aand specimen geoinetry is subjected to a pair of equal and opposite concentrated forces along the open end away from the edge crack. The third example pertains to the case of three-point bending where the centre concentrated load is directed along the interface dividing the two materials. Numerical results are obtained for four different combinations of the bimaterial specimen with an interface edge crack.     

Interface crack problems for mode II of double dissimilar orthotropic composite materials

The fracture problems near the similar orthotropic composite materials are interface crack tip for mode Ⅱ of double disstudied. The mechanical models of interface crack for mode Ⅱ are given. By translating the governing equations into the generalized hi-harmonic equations, the stress functions containing two stress singularity exponents are derived with the help of a complex function method. Based on the boundary conditions, a system of non-homogeneous linear equations is found. Two real stress singularity exponents are determined be solving this system under appropriate conditions about bimaterial engineering parameters. According to the uniqueness theorem of limit, both the formulae of stress intensity factors and theoretical solutions of stress field near the interface crack tip are derived. When the two orthotropic materials are the same, the stress singularity exponents, stress intensity factors and stresses for mode II crack of the orthotropic single material are obtained.     

Finite strains at the tip of a crack in a sheet of hyperelastic material: III. General bimaterial case

In this last in a series of three papers, we summarize an asymptotic analysis of the near-tip stress and deformation fields for an interface crack between two sheets of Generalized Neo-Hookean materials. This investigation, which is consistent with the nonlinear elastostatic theory of plane stress, allows for an arbitrary choice, on both sides of the three parameters characterizing this class of hyperelastic materials. The first three terms of the approximation series are obtained, showing the existence of a non-oscillatory and contact-free solution to the interface crack problem. The analytical results are compared with a full-field solution obtained numerically using the finite element method.     

Singularities of an interface crack in electrostrictive materials

In the present work, the singularities of an interface crack between two dissimilar electrostrictive materials under electric loads are investigated. Within the framework of two-dimensional deformation, the problem is solved using the complex variable method. Three crack models, that is, permeable, impermeable and conducting crack models are considered individually. Complex potentials and intensity factors of total stresses are derived by considering both the Maxwell stresses in the surrounding space at infinity and inside the crack. It is found that, for the above three crack models, the singularities of total stress are the same as those in traditional bi-materials with an interface crack; however, the intensities of the total stress depend on the actual crack model used.     

An Interface Crack for a Functionally Graded Strip Sandwiched Between Two Homogeneous Layers of Finite Thickness

In this paper, the behavior of an interface crack for a functionally graded strip sandwiched between two homogeneous layers of finite thickness subjected to an uniform tension is resolved using a somewhat different approach, named the Schmidt method. The Fourier transform technique is applied and a mixed boundary value problem is reduced to two pairs of dual integral equations in which the unknown variables are the jumps of the displacements across the crack surface. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of the displacements across the crack surfaces are expanded in a series of Jacobi polynomials. This process is quite different from those adopted in previous works. Numerical examples are provided to show the effects of the crack length, the thickness of the material layer and the materials constants upon the stress intensity factor of the cracks. It can be obtained that the results of the present paper are the same as ones of the same problem that was solved by the singular integral equation method. As a special case, when the material properties are not continuous through the crack line, an approximate solution of the interface crack problem is also given under the assumption that the effect of the crack surface interference very near the crack tips is negligible. Contrary to the previous solution of the interface crack, it is found that the stress singularities of the present interface crack solution are the same as ones of the ordinary crack in homogenous materials.     

Mechanics and fracture of crack tip deformable bi-material interface

Novel interface deformable bi-layer beam theory is developed to account for local effects at crack tip of bi-material interface by modeling a bi-layer composite beam as two separate shear deformable sub-layers with consideration of crack tip deformation. Unlike the sub-layer model in the literature in which the crack tip deformations under the interface peel and shear stresses are ignored and thus a “rigid” joint is used, the present study introduces two interface compliances to account for the effect of interface stresses on the crack tip deformation which is referred to as the elastic foundation effect; thus a flexible condition along the interface is considered. Closed-form solutions of resultant forces, deformations, and interface stresses are obtained for each sub-layer in the bi-layer beam, of which the local effects at the crack tip are demonstrated. In this study, an elastic deformable crack tip model is presented for the first time which can improve the split beam solution. The present model is in excellent agreements with analytical 2-D continuum solutions and finite element analyses. The resulting crack tip rotation is then used to calculate the energy release rate (ERR) and stress intensity factor (SIF) of interface fracture in bi-layer materials. Explicit closed-form solutions for ERR and SIF are obtained for which both the transverse shear and crack tip deformation effects are accounted. Compared to the full continuum elasticity analysis, such as finite element analysis, the present solutions are much explicit, more applicable, while comparable in accuracy. Further, the concept of deformable crack tip model can be applied to other bi-layer beam analyses (e.g., delamination buckling and vibration, etc.).     

功能梯度材料与均质材料交界面上Ⅰ-型裂纹对简谐动载的响应分析

在忽略界面裂尖端裂纹面相互叠入的条件下,对功能梯度材料与均质材料交界面上Ⅰ-型裂纹对简谐动载响应问题进行了分析。利用傅立叶变换,将问题的求解转换为对以裂纹面上位移差为未知函数的对偶积分方程的求解。为了求解对偶积分方程,将裂纹面上的位移差函数展开为雅可毕多项式的级数形式。最终给出了裂纹长度、入射波频率和材料性质对应力强度的影响。结果表明,当界面材料不连续时,获得了具有普通1/2奇异性的近似解。     

INVESTIGATION OF BEHAVIOR OF MODE-I INTERFACE CRACK IN PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIALS BY USING SCHMIDT METHOD

The behavior of a Mode-Ⅰinterface crack in piezoelectric materials was investigated under the assumptions that the effect of the crack surface overlapping very near the crack tips was negligible. By use of the Fourier transform, the problem can be solved with the help of two pairs of dual integral equations. To solve the dual integral equations, the jumps of the displacements across the crack surfaces were expanded in a series of Jacobi polynomials. It is found that the stress and the electric displacement singularities of the present interface crack solution are the same as ones of the ordinary crack in homogenous materials. The solution of the present paper can be returned to the exact solution when the upper half plane material is the same as the lower half plane material.     

Anti-plane crack moving along the interface of dissimilar piezoelectric materials

The problem of an anti-plane Griffith crack moving along the interface of dissimilar piezoelectric materials is solved by using the integral transform technique. It is shown from the result that the intensity factors of anti-plane stress and electric displacement around the crack tip are dependent on the speed of the Griffith crack as well as the material coefficients. When the two piezoelectric materials are identical, the present result will be reduced to the result for the problem of an anti-plane moving Griffith crack in homogeneous piezoelectric materials. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation and the National Post-doctoral Science Foundation of China.     

An analytically-numerical approach for the analysis of an interface crack with a contact zone in a piezoelectric bimaterial compound

An interface crack with an artificial contact zone at the right-hand side crack tip between two dissimilar finite-sized piezoelectric materials is considered under remote mixed-mode loading. To find the singular electromechanical field at the crack tip, an asymptotic solution is derived in connection with the conventional finite element method. For mechanical loads, the stress intensity factors at the singular points are obtained. As a particular case of this solution, the contact zone model (in Comninou’s sense) is derived. A simple transcendental equation and an asymptotic formula for the determination of the real contact zone length are derived. The dependencies of the contact zone lengths on external load coefficients are illustrated in graphical form. For a particular case of a short crack with respect to the dimensions of the bimaterial compound, the numerical results are compared to the exact analytical solutions, obtained for a piezoelectric bimaterial plane with an interface crack.     

Interface crack between two shear deformable elastic layers

An improved method based on the first-order shear deformable plate theory is developed to calculate the energy release rate and stress intensity factor for a crack at the interface of a bi-layer structure. By modeling the uncracked region of the structure as two separate Reissner-Mindlin plates bonded perfectly along the interface, this method is able not only to take into account the shear deformation in the cracked region, but also to capture the shear deformation in the uncracked region of the structure. A closed form solution of energy release rate and mode decomposition at the interface crack is obtained for a general loading condition, and it indicates that the energy release rate and stress intensity factor are determined by two independent loading parameters. Compared to the approach based on the classical plate theory, the proposed method provides a more accurate prediction of energy release rate as well as mode decomposition. The computational procedures introduced are relatively straightforward, and the closed form solution can be used to predict crack growth along the layered structures.     

Fracture analysis of mode-II crack perpendicular to imperfect bimaterial interface

The problem of a mode-II crack close to and perpendicular to an imperfect interface of two bonded dissimilar materials is investigated.The imperfect interface is modelled by a linear spring with the vanishing thickness.The Fourier transform is used to solve the boundary-value problem and to derive a singular integral equation with the Cauchy kernel.The stress intensity factors near the left and right crack tips are evaluated by numerically solving the resulting equation.Several special cases of the mode-II crack problem with an imperfect interface are studied in detail.The effects of the interfacial imperfection on the stress intensity factors for a bimaterial system of aluminum and steel are shown graphically.The obtained observation reveals that the stress intensity factors are dependent on the interface parameters and vary between those with a fully debonded interface and those with a perfect interface.     

Crack-tip field on mode Ⅱ interface crack of double dissimilar orthotropic composite materials

Two systems of non-homogeneous linear equations with 8 unknowns are obtained.This is done by introducing two stress functions containing 16 undetermined coefficients and two real stress singularity exponents with the help of boundary conditions.By solving the above systems of non-homogeneous linear equations,the two real stress singularity exponents can be determined when the double material parameters meet certain conditions.The expression of the stress function and all coefficients are obtained based on the uniqueness theorem of limit.By substituting these parameters into the corresponding mechanics equations,theoretical solutions to the stress intensity factor,the stress field and the displacement field near the crack tip of each material can be obtained when both discriminants of the characteristic equations are less than zero.Stress and displacement near the crack tip show mixed crack characteristics without stress oscillation and crack surface overlapping.As an example,when the two orthotropic materials are the same,the stress singularity exponent,the stress intensity factor,and expressions for the stress and the displacement fields of the orthotropic single materials can be derived.     

Stress intensity factor for an edge crack in two bonded dissimilar materials under convective cooling

The transient thermal stress crack problem for two bonded dissimilar materials subjected to a convective cooling on the surface containing an edge crack perpendicular to the interface is considered. The problem is solved using the principle of superposition and the uncoupled quasi-static thermoelasticity. The crack problem is formulated by applying the transient thermal stresses obtained from the uncracked medium with opposite sign on the crack surfaces to be the only external loads. Fourier integral transform is used to solve the perturbation problem resulting in a singular integral equation of Cauchy type in which the derivative of the crack surface displacement is the unknown function. The numerical results of the stress intensity factors are calculated for both the edge crack and the crack terminating at the interface using two different composite materials and illustrated as a function of time, crack length, coefficient of heat transfer, and the thickness ratio.     

Discrete modeling of crack bridging by a discontinuous platelet with a controlled interface

Crack bridging by discontinuous fibers can make brittle materials tougher by transferring stresses from the crack tip to elsewhere in the matrix material. One important aspect of crack bridging is the nature of the interface between the fibers and the matrix material. In this paper, a two-dimensional numerical model of bridging a Mode I loaded crack by linear elastic discontinuous platelets is developed for two different types of interfaces. The first type is a perfectly bonded interface. The second type is an imperfect interface described as a stick–slip interface. A shear-lag model to predict platelet pullout is developed in detail to verify the numerical implementation of the stick–slip interface. An example of a crack tip bridged by a platelet is examined for both interfaces. The perfectly bonded interface will reduce the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) of the crack greatly but introduces new stress concentrations at the platelet ends. The stick–slip interface can be tailored to also reduce the SIF while not introducing new stress concentrations.     

On a moving interface crack with a contact zone in a piezoelectric bimaterial

An inplane problem for a crack moving with constant subsonic speed along the interface of two piezoelectric materials is considered. A mechanically frictionless and electrically permeable contact zone is assumed at the right crack tip whilst for the open part of the crack both electrically permeable and electrically insulated conditions are considered. In the first case a moving concentrated loading is prescribed at the crack faces and in the second case an additional electrical charge at the crack faces is prescribed as well. The main attention is devoted to electrically permeable crack faces. Introducing a moving coordinate system at the leading crack tip the corresponding inhomogeneous combined Dirichlet–Riemann problem is formulated and solved exactly for this case. All electromechanical characteristics at the interface are presented in a closed form for arbitrary contact zone lengths, and further, the transcendental equation for the determination of the real contact zone length is derived. As a particular case of the obtained solution a semi-infinite crack with a contact zone is considered. The numerical analysis performed for a certain piezoelectric bimaterial showed an essential increase of the contact zone length and the associated stress intensity factor especially for the near-critical speed region. Similar investigations have been performed for an electrically insulated crack and the same behavior of the above mentioned parameters is observed.     

Limited permeable crack moving along the interface of a piezoelectric bi-material

A plane problem for a crack moving with a subsonic speed along the interface of two piezoelectric semi-infinite spaces is considered. The crack is assumed to be free from mechanical loading. The limited permeable electric condition with an account of electric traction is adopted at its faces. A uniformly distributed mixed mode mechanical loading and an electric flux are prescribed at infinity. The problem is reduced to the Riemann–Hilbert problem by means of introducing a moving coordinate system and assuming that the electric flux is uniformly distributed along the crack region. An exact solution of this problem is proposed. It permits to find in closed form all necessary electromechanical characteristics at the interface and to formulate the equation for the determination of the electric flux. Analysis of this equation confirms the correctness of the assumption concerning the uniform distribution of the electric flux in the crack region. The values of the electric flux are determined by solving the obtained equation. Thereafter, the stress and electric intensity factors as well as their asymptotic fields at the crack tip are also found. The particular case of a crack moving in a homogeneous piezoelectric material is considered. The values of the electric flux and the fracture parameters are found exactly in a simple form for this case. Also, a numerical analysis is performed for a crack propagating with a subsonic speed between PZT4 and PZT5 materials and for a crack moving in PZT4 material. The electric flux in the crack region, stress and electric intensity factors, crack opening and the energy release rate (ERR) are found as functions of the crack speed, loading and electric permeability of the crack medium. The influence of the electric traction on the crack faces upon the mentioned parameters is demonstrated.     

Loss of adhesion at the tip of an interface crack

A model is constructed to analyze adhesive bond failure at the tip of an interface crack. The model is based on the assumption that there are zones of bounded cohesive tensile and shear stresses near a crack tip. Within the context of certain broad a-priori assumptions on the distributions of certain stress and displacement components in the cohesive zones, the requirement thatall stresses in the two materials remain bounded provides a method to compute the specific details for these zones. It is assumed that bond failure occurs when the extension of the bond fiber at the crack tip exceeds a critical value. For an interface crack in a uniform tension field computations for two alternate formulations suggest that this failure criterion is independent of the precise distribution of the cohesive stresses, but rather depends only upon their averaged values. Combined loading with a dominant tensile component has also been analyzed. If the critical extension of bond fibers and the maximum value of the cohesive tensile stress are known, the model provides the maximum allowable interface stresses for given crack dimension and material parameters.     

Comparative study of an interface crack for different wedge-interface models

Summary  An interface crack problem is investigated under various assumptions on an interface between two elastic materials. The interface is modeled by an additional third structure (thin elastic wedge of differing elastic properties) matching the bonded materials, or by introducing special boundary conditions on the crack line ahead. The main emphasis of the paper is placed on a comparison of the asymptotic expansion of the elastic solutions near the crack tip obtained for the different models. In particular, the behaviour of the stress singularity exponent and the generalized SIF are discussed. Numerical examples are presented. Received 16 August 2000; accepted for publication 26 May 2001