Surface strain gradient effects in the torsion of a circular bar with radial cracks

Abstract

We study the contribution of surface strain gradient elasticity to the Saint-Venant torsion problem of a circular cylinder containing a radial crack. The surface strain gradient elasticity is incorporated by using an enriched version of the continuum-based surface/interface model of Gurtin and Murdoch. By using Green’s function method, the original boundary value problem is reduced to a Cauchy singular integro-differential equation which can be numerically solved by using the Gauss–Chebyshev integration formula, the Chebyshev polynomials and the collocation method. Due to the presence of surface strain gradient elasticity on the crack faces, the stresses are bounded at the crack tips. The torsion problem of a circular cylinder containing two symmetric collinear radial cracks of equal length with surface strain gradient elasticity is also solved by using a similar method. Numerical results indicate that the surface strain gradient effect exerts a significant influence on the torsional rigidity and the jump in warping function. In particular, the jump in warping function forms a cusp shape with zero enclosed angle at the crack tips.