M-integral analysis for microcrack-damaged anisotropic composite materials

Summary  This paper presents an M-integral analysis for the microcracked anisotropic composite materials. By using an elementary solution derived for a single finite crack subjected to a concentrated force on crack faces, the problem of strong interacting, arbitrarily oriented and located microcracks in an anisotropic composite materials is reduced to a system of Fredholm integral equations. The crack-tip fracture parameters, such as the stress intensity factors, are evaluated from a numerical solution of the system of integral equations. Its dependence on the coordinate system, calculation, and physical interpretation of the M-integral are discussed in the interaction problem. Finally, a numerical example of the damage evaluation by the M-integral analysis is given. Received 24 September 1999; accepted for publication 8 February 2000