Thermal stress intensity factors for a crack in an anisotropic half plane

On the basis of the two-dimensional theory of anisotropic thermoelasticity, a solution is given for the thermal stress intensity factors due to the obstruction of a uniform heat flux by an insulated line crack in a generally anisotropic half plane. The crack is replaced by continuous distributions of sources of temperature discontinuity and dislocations. First, the particular thermoelastic dislocation solutions for the half plane are obtained; then the corresponding isothermal solutions are superposed to satisfy the traction-free conditions on the crack surfaces. The dislocation solutions are applied to calculate the thermal stress intensity factors, which are validated by the exact solutions. The effects of the uniform heat flux, the ply angle and the crack length are investigated. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.