Interaction of elastic waves with a periodic array of coplanar griffith cracks in an orthotropic elastic medium

Abstract

The elastodynamic response of a series of periodically spaced coplanar Griffith cracks in an infinite orthotropic medium due to elastic waves incident normally on the cracks has been investigated. Due to the periodicity of the geometry, the problem has been reduced to the solution of the problem with a single crack in a strip with boundaries such that shear stress and normal displacement are zero on them. Using Fourier transform the mixed boundary value problem for a typical strip has been reduced firstly to the solution of dual integral equations and finally to that of a Fredholm integral equation of the second kind. Numerical values of stress intensity factor and the crack opening displacement for several orthotropic materials have been calculated and plotted graphically to show the effect of material orthotropy.