An accurate semi-analytical method for the treatment of an eccentric annular crack embedded in an infinite isotropic elastic medium under arbitrary internal pressure

Abstract

This work provides a semi-analytical method for the calculation of the stress intensity factor (SIF) associated with an internally pressurized eccentric annular crack embedded in an infinite isotropic elastic solid. The inner and outer edges of the crack consist of the circumferences of two eccentric circles and the internal pressure exerted on the crack faces has an arbitrary distribution. Using Somigliana formulation a hypersingular integral equation governing the proposed crack problem is obtained. Next, by the employment of a conformal mapping the considered crack is mapped on to a concentric annular crack. In the mapped domain, with the aids of Fourier expansion of the displacement discontinuity function across the crack faces together with the notion of the Hadamard finite-part integral, the hypersingular integral equation is converted to a system of linear algebraic equations for the unknown constants of the expansion. Upon the determination of these constants, the angular dependent SIFs along both the inner and outer edges of the crack are obtained accurately. The accuracy of the current formulation is showcased through the re-examination of the simple concentric annular crack problems considered previously in the literature. In the presence of eccentricity, the effects of such geometrical parameters as the ratio of the radii of the inner to outer eccentric circular edges of the crack and the normalized eccentricity on the values of the SIFs along both the inner and outer edges of the crack are studied. As it will be seen the material properties of the elastic matrix do not affect the values of SIFs.