Effective stress intensity factor and contact stress for a partially closed Griffith crack in bending

A method based on the weight function for solving the problem of partially closed cracks is proposed. An explicit exact expression for the effective stress intensity factor and an approximate analytical expression for the contact stress was determined for the Griffith crack in bending. The solution was obtained without the evaluation of displacement. The method requires modest computational resources and it can be employed also in the study of more complex problems having practical relevance. By means of the obtained results the effect of closure on the effective stress intensity factor was accurately determined and it was shown that, in many circumstances, a simplified linear approach (not including the effect of contact) is not adequate. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd