Stress intensity factors around a cylindrical crack in an interfacial zone in composite materials

Axisymmetric stresses around a cylindrical crack in an interfacial cylindrical layer between an infinite elastic medium with a cylindrical cavity and a circular elastic cylinder made of another material have been determined. The material constants of the layer vary continuously from those of the infinite medium to those of the cylinder. Tension surrounding the cylinder and perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder is applied to the composite materials. To solve this problem, the interfacial layer is divided into several layers with different material properties. The boundary conditions are reduced to dual integral equations. The differences in the crack faces are expanded ina series so as to satisfy the conditions outside the crack. The unknown coefficients in the series are solved using the conditions inside the crack. Numerical calculations are performed for several thicknesses of the interfacial layer. Using these numerical results, the stress intensity factors are evaluated for infinitesimal thickness of the layer. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.