Stress-Intensity Factors by Boundary Collocation for Single-Edge-Notch Specimens Subject to Splitting Forces

Abstract

A boundary -value-collocation procedure was applied in conjunction with the Williams stress function to determine values of the stress-intensity factor K1 for single-edge cracks in plate specimens subject to splitting forces applied close to the crack and acting transversely to it. The results are presented in terms of the dimensionless quantity Y = K1BH3 /2/pa, where B and H are the specimen thickness and half-depth, a is the effective crack length, and P is the applied load. The results are practically independent of the ratio of effective specimen length to specimen half-depth q/H, when this ratio is not less than a/H + 2, and are then in excellent agreement with those derived by other investigators from compliance measurements. In the limit, as H/a approaches zero, the value of Y approaches that obtained in an elementary analysis which treats the specimen as a pair of built-in cantilever beams.