Model of branched crack and hole defects in finite plane

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of branched crack near hole defects within a finite plane. Based on the distributed dislocation method and the Gauss-Chebyshev quadrature method, it is possible to conveniently obtain the stress intensity factors of branched crack around single and multiple arbitrarily shaped hole defects, and to obtain the complete stress field of the interaction between branched cracks and hole defects. Additionally, it has been found that this technique can be used to address the problem of crack initiated from hole defect and has been validated through finite element analysis. The results show that finite boundary proportionate scaling has little impact on the direction of branching propagation; the biaxial load ratio is the crucial factor influencing the propagation angle. Under tension loading, even when the defect is far from the crack, it still significantly affects KI, while KII is only significantly influenced when the distance is small. Branched cracks with different branching angles exhibit a similar range of attraction to hole defects. The number of hole defects, their arrangement, and the distances between cracks and defects all influence the interactions between cracks and defects, as well as between hole defects themselves.