The in-plane loading of rigid disc inclusion embedded in a crack

The paper examines the in-plane loading of a disc shaped rigid disc inclusion which is embedded in bonded contact with the plane surfaces of a penny-shaped crack. The mixed boundary value problem governing the elastostatic problem is reduced to the solution of a system of coupled integral equations, which are solved numerically to determine results of engineering interest. These results include the in-plane stiffness of the disc inclusion and the crack opening mode stress intensity factor at the boundary of the penny-shaped crack. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.