A CRACK NORMAL TO AND TERMINATING AT A BIMATERIAL INTERFACE

This paper investigates the plane problem of a crack normal to and terminating at a bimaterial interface. The general expression for the singular stress field at the crack tip that touches the interface is given in an explicit closed form. The singular stress fields are expressed as a sum of two independent terms, which correspond to the symmetric and skew-symmetric stress fields, respectively. The intensities of the symmetric and skew-symmetric singular stress fields are defined in terms of two factors K(I) and K(II), respectively. The body force method is used to determine the values of K(I) and K(II). The numerical results are given for a broad range of material combinations.