FRACTURE OF A SURFACE-LAYER BONDED TO A HALF SPACE

The plane problem of a cracked elastic surface layer bonded to an elastic half space is considered. The surface layer is assumed to contain a transverse crack whose surface is subjected to uniform compression. The problem is formulated in terms of a singular integral equation, the derivative of the crack surface displacement being the density function. By using appropriate quadrature formulas, the integral equation reduces to a system of linear algebraic equations. This system is solved; the stress intensity factors and the crack surface displacement for various crack geometries, namely for internal crack, edge crack, crack touching the interface, and completely broken layer cases, are obtained. © 1979.