Delayed Fracture of a Laminated Viscoelastic Plate with a Through Crack under a Time-Dependent Load

The delayed fracture of a viscoelastic plate with a rectilinear mode I crack under a time-dependent load is studied. The plate is made of a laminated composite with an isotropic elastic reinforcing component and a viscoelastic matrix. The composite is modeled by an orthotropic homogeneous linearly viscoelastic medium with some averaged characteristics. To determine the viscoelastic characteristics of the composite, the Volterra principle and the method of continued fractions are used. The study is made within the framework of the theory of delayed fracture for viscoelastic bodies.