Penny-shaped crack bridged by fibres

Abstract

An axi-symmetric problem for a penny-shaped crack bridged by fibres is considered. The study is reduced to the analysis of a hypersingular integral equation with respect to the relative crack-face separation over a circular domain occupied by the crack. The special case of a large crack subjected to Mode-I loading is examined. A matched asymptotic expansions technique is used in order to estimate the stress intensity factor at the crack edge and to evaluate the magnitude of the applied load which provides the critical opening for failure of fibres at the centre of the crack.