A Circular Crack System in an Infinite Elastic Medium Under Arbitrary Normal Loads

Abstract

This analysis considers a circular crack system containing a penny-shaped crack and a concentric, coplanar external circular crack under arbitrary normal loading in a transversely isotropic body. The solution is obtained by transforming the governing two-dimensional integral equation to a set of algebraic equations which are easily solved numerically due to the special coefficient matrix. The normal stress component coplanar with the crack system is determined in power series form. The equations are solved and solutions for the stress intensity factors around the crack fronts are given for several different loading conditions. Including the rigid-body displacements at infinity allows the contact problem of an annular flat punch on an elastic half-space to be solved simultaneously.