Thermoelastic Fracture Parameters for Anisotropic Plates

Abstract

This paper deals with the determination of the effect of varying material properties on the value of the stress intensity factors, <em>K_I</em> and <em>K_II</em>, for anisotropic plates containing cracks and subjected to a temperature change. Problems involving cracks and body forces, as well as thermal loads are analysed. The quadratic isoperimetric element formulation is utilized, and SIFs may be directly obtained using the ‘traction formula' and the ‘displacement formula'. Three cracked plate geometries are considered in this study, namely: (1) a plate with an edge-crack; (2) a plate with a double edge-crack; (3) a plate with symmetric cracks emanating from a central hole. Where appropriate, finite element method (FEM) analyses are also performed in order to validate the results of the BEM analysis. The results of this study show that, for all crack geometries, the mode-I stress intensity factor, <em>K</em><em>∗</em><em>I</em> decreases as the anisotropy of the material properties is increased. Additionally, for all these cases, <em>K</em><em>∗</em><em>I</em> decreases as the angle of orientation of the material properties, , increases with respect to the horizontal axis. The results also show that BEM is an accurate and efficient method for two-dimensional thermoelastic fracture mechanics analysis of cracked anisotropic bodies.