Interaction of a Center of Dilatation and a Penny-Shaped Interfacial Crack in an Infinite Bimaterial

Abstract

This paper presents a study for the interaction of a penny-shaped interfacial crack and a center of dilatation in an infinite bimaterial, which can model the rock fracture subjected to stress and thermal dilatation during some engineering process. The solution is obtained by decomposing the original problem into two auxiliary problems: (I) a center of dilatation near a bimaterial interface (no crack); and (II) a penny-shaped interfacial crack subject to internal tractions that cancel out those induced in auxiliary problem (I). The mode I, II and III stress intensity factors (SIFs) are calculated to investigate the possible propagation of the pre-existing penny-shaped interfacial crack. The convergence of the developed numerical method is checked, and the interaction of a penny-shaped interfacial crack and a center of dilatation are calculated and discussed.