PARTIALLY BONDED RIGID ROUNDED-OFF CORNERS POLYGONAL INCLUSIONS IN AN ELASTIC MATRIX

The plane elastostatic problem of a crack lying along the boundary of a rigid rounded-off corners polygonal inclusion embedded in an elastic matrix is theoretically studied. Using the conformal mapping method of the complex variable theory of elasticity, closed form solutions of the stress and displacement fields are obtained for a general shape rounded-off corners polygonal inclusion and biaxial applied loads at infinity. The complex stress intensity factor for complex stress singularities is defined and the local stress distribution in the neighborhood of the crack tips is given. The general solution is applied to some particular shapes of rounded-off corners polygonal inclusions and explicit formulae for the complex potentials are provided. The variation of the stress intensity factors with the angle subtended by the crack are and various combinations of the applied biaxial loads at infinity are graphically shown. The results of the stress analysis are coupled with the maximum circumferential stress criterion to obtain the fracture characteristics of the composite plate. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.