On dependence of the stress intensity factor and T-stress from imposed boundary conditions in a rectangular cracked plate

This paper investigates the dependence of the stress intensity factor (abbreviated as SIF) and T-stress from the imposed boundary conditions. A rectangular cracked plate is subject to a tension in the vertical direction. In the first boundary condition, the tension loading is applied at the tops of plate. In the second boundary condition, the relevant assumed displacement is applied on the edges of plate. In the study, the complex potentials are assumed in the series form with undetermined coefficients, and those coefficients can be evaluated by using the variational principle. The aim of study is to obtain the SIF and T-stress at the crack tips for two different boundary conditions. Finally, numerical results are presented. The obtained results may have their application in the fatigue test of a cracked component. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.