INTERFACE CRACK PROBLEMS IN LAYERED ORTHOTROPIC MATERIALS

THE PRIMARY objective of this paper is to study the influence of the structure and thickness of the interfacial regions on the strain energy release rate in bonded isotropic or orthotropic materials containing collinear interface cracks. The problem is formulated in terms of a system of singular integral equations of the second kind which is solved by using a relatively simple and efficient technique. A number of examples are given for various crack geometries and material combinations. The results show that the effect of the properties and the relative thickness of the interfacial region on the stress intensity factors and the strain energy release rate can be highly significant.