Mixed mode equilibrium analysis of asymptotic fields around stationary sharp V-notches in polymer gels: A linear poroelastic study

Abstract

In this paper, the equilibrium asymptotic stress and solvent concentration fields around stationary sharp V-notches are extracted for in-plane mixed mode loadings employing the linear poroelasticity theory. It is shown that at thermodynamic equilibrium, mechanical and chemical equilibrium equations are uncoupled and thus can be solved independently. The mechanical equilibrium equations are then solved using the Airy stress function technique. This technique replaces the coupled mechanical equilibrium relations with the compatibility biharmonic equation which can be solved using the separation of variables method. Applying traction free boundary conditions on the notch edges leads to an eigenvalue problem which gives both mode I and mode II eigenvalues. These eigenvalues can be real or complex numbers depending on the notch opening angle. Since there are infinite eigenvalues for both modes of deformation, series solutions will be obtained for the equilibrium fields. From these asymptotic solutions, it is found that the obtained stress fields are similar to their corresponding linear elasticity solution. Furthermore, from the solutions, it can be observed that the opening and shear deformations near the notch tip lead to cosine and sine variations of the solvent concentration field with respect to the angular coordinates, respectively. The accuracy of these asymptotic results is finally verified using finite element analyses of a single-edge notched (SEN) specimen subjected to far field applied small displacements. The numerical analyses are performed for two notch opening angles of 30° and 60° for both plane stress and plane strain conditions. The comparative study between the finite element results and the asymptotic solution proves that the present solution can accurately capture the near notch tip stress and solvent concentration fields by considering only the first few terms of the series solutions.