The ductile fracture of anisotropic materials

A theoretical solution is obtained which adapts the Dugdale model to anisotropic materials. The effect of anisotropy is shown to modify each isotropic field equation by amultiplicative constant which is a function of the anisotropic-material constants. A limit on the validity of a Dugdale-type solution is found using a von Mises' yield criterion which implies that the crack and plastic zone will extend along a direction other than the crack line. As long as the material is within pirescribed limits, the Dugdale finiteness condition is shown to be affected by material anisotropy only in the calculation of a yield stress. Experimental results on crack-opening displacements are presented which indicate that a large degree of anisotropy is necessary to cause significant deviations from isotropic theory. Results are presented which indicate that anisotropy does affect the direction of crack propagation.