Dynamic Response of a Cracked Viscoelastic Anisotropic Plane Using Boundary Elements and Fractional Derivatives

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to develop an efficient numerical technique using the non-hypersingular, traction boundary integral equation method (BIEM) for solving wave propagation problems in an anisotropic, viscoelastic plane with cracks. The methodology can be extended from the macro-scale with certain modifications to the nano-scale. Furthermore, the proposed approach can be applied to any type of anisotropic material insofar as the BIEM formulation is based on the fundamental solution of the governing wave equation derived for the case of general anisotropy. The following examples are solved: (i) a straight crack in a viscoelastic orthotropic plane, and (ii) a blunt nano-crack inside a material of the same type. The mathematical modelling effort starts from linear fracture mechanics, and adds the fractional derivative concept for viscoelastic wave propagation, plus the surface elasticity model of M. E. Gurtin and A. I. Murdoch, which leads to nonclassical boundary conditions at the nano-scale. Conditions of plane strain are assumed to hold. Following verification of the numerical scheme through comparison studies, further numerical simulations serve to investigate the dependence of the stress intensity factor (SIF) and of the stress concentration factor (SCF) that develop in a cracked inhomogeneous plane on (i) the degree of anisotropy, (ii) the presence of viscoelasticity, (iii) the size effect with the associated surface elasticity phenomena, and (iv) finally the type of the dynamic disturbance propagating through the bulk material.