Stress intensity factors for three cracks at the interfaces of a graded layer bonding two different materials

We consider two dissimilar elastic half-planes bonded by a nonhomogeneous elastic layer in which there is one crack at the lower interface between the elastic layer and the lower half-plane and two cracks at the upper interface between the elastic layer and the upper half-plane. The stress intensity factors for these three cracks are solved for when tension is applied perpendicular to the interface cracks. The material properties of the bonding layer vary continuously between those of the lower half-plane and those of the upper half-plane. The differences in the crack surface displacements are expanded in a series of functions that are zero outside the cracks. The unknown coefficients in the series are solved by the Schmidt method so as to satisfy the conditions inside the cracks. The stress intensity factors are calculated numerically for selected crack configurations.