Stress discontinuity and singularity around the vertex of a triangular inhomogeneity

Abstract

The stress field around a vertex of angular inhomogeneity has been investigated by Eshelby’s equivalent inclusion method (EIM). Different from Eshelby’s problem for ellipsoidal inhomogeneity with a uniform or polynomial eigenstrain, a singular eigenstrain field is derived by Airy’s stress function and asymptotic analysis, in which the singular elastic fields can be expressed in terms of the distance to the vertex. The discontinuity of Eshelby’s tensor along the boundary has been analytically derived and are used in the stress equivalence condition at the vertex, which can be converted into an eigenvalue problem with the integral of the Green’s function and singular eigenstrain over the inhomogeneity. To verify the solution, when the opening angle 2β at the vertex approaches zero, the triangular void reduces to a slit-like crack, and the paper reproduces the classic solution of 1/r singularity. When β increases from 0 to π/2, the singularity parameter λ around the vertex of the triangular void reduces at different pace under the symmetric and antisymmetric loading conditions. When a triangular inhomogeneity exhibits nonzero stiffness and different angles, λ changes with the stiffness ratio, β, and loading conditions, and the dominant stress singularity around the vertex and stress discontinuity across the boundary are analytically provided. Particularly, the stress singularity for an adhesive interface with varying stiffness provides insight for structure repair and integration.