Stress distribution in the neighbourhood of Griffith and external cracks under general surface loadings

Abstract

The problem of determining the stress distribution in an infinite elastic medium, containing Griffith cracks and the external cracks, is considered under the assumptions of plane strain. The crack surfaces are subjected to completely arbitrary surface tractions and the cracks are located on a straight line (say, x-axis). Detailed consideration is given to the cases when the elastic medium contains, (1) a Griffith crack ( 0 < ¦x¦ < a, y = 0); (2) a pair of symmetrically located Griffith cracks ( 0 < a < ¦x¦ < b, y = 0); and (3) a pair of external cracks ( 0 <a < ¦x¦, y = 0). The method of Fourier transform is used to analyse the problem and the results are compared, in special cases, with the known results in the literature.