Interaction of two cracks in an orthotropic lamina subjected to uniaxial loading

Abstract

PurposeThe determination of stress intensity factors (SIF) is of fundamental importance in prediction of brittle failure using linear elastic fracture mechanics. The presence of a crack in the vicinity of another crack induces an interaction effect. The purpose of this paper is to determine the SIF for an orthotropic lamina subjected to uniaxial loading and containing two cracks. The solution is obtained for one crack being horizontal and located in the centre of lamina while the other crack is inclined to first one. The effect of angle of the second crack, fibre angle is studied. Also, for the case of two parallel cracks, effect of eccentricity in x and y directions is observed.Design/methodology/approachBoundary collocation method is used and stress functions satisfying governing equations in the domain and ensuring stress singularity at the crack tips are defined. The boundary condition on the edges of lamina and the crack is satisfied to determine the complex coefficients in the stress functions.FindingsFor the given fibre angle, orientations of second crack which result in increase/decrease in the SIF at the most dangerous crack tip are found out.Originality/valueBoundary collocation method which is simple and efficient is extended for studying two crack problem in orthotropic materials.