Approximate Determination of Stress Intensity Factor for Multiple Surface Cracks

In this paper a versatile and easy to use approximate procedure was used for the estimation of mode I stress intensity factors in case of multiple surface cracks in a three dimensional elastic body, subjected to remote uniaxial tensile loading. The mentioned method uses known solutions for either 2D or 3D configurations containing only one crack, and takes into consideration the interaction effect between cracks. This procedure, which is based on the principle of superposition, was applied on a configuration with three coplanar semi-elliptical cracks embedded in three dimensional elastic body, subjected to remote uniaxial tensile loading. All cracks are located in the same plane at the same distances, in the middle of the body and the applied stress is perpendicular to the cracks plane. For the verification purposes, the stress intensity factors solutions were obtained by using finite element method based computer program. The conducted analysis showed that approximate method is, above all, fast and efficient tool for stress intensity factors assessment even in the case of 3D configurations with multiple site damage. The comparison between results also showed the significance of accurate calculation of stress intensity factors, in order to provide a better understanding and prediction of 3D multiple cracks propagation.