Crack propagation in an elastic solid subjected to general loading—III. Stress wave loading

The stress intensity factor of a half-plane crack extending non-uniformly in an isotropic elastic solid subjected to stress wave loading is determined. A plane stress pulse strikes the crack at time t = 0, the wavefront being parallel to the plane of the crack. At some arbitrary later time t = τ, the crack begins to extend at a non-uniform rate. It is found that the stress intensity factor is a universal function of instantaneous crack-tip velocity times the stress intensity factor for an equivalent stationary crack. An energy rate balance fracture criterion is applied to obtain an equation of motion for the crack tip. The delay time between the arrival of the incident pulse and the onset of fracture is also calculated for this fracture criterion.