Fracture Mechanics Analysis of an Annular Crack in a Three-concentric-cylinder Composite Model
A boundary-value problem governing a three-phase concentric-cylinder model was analytically modeled to analyze annular interfacial crack problems with Love s strain functions in order to find the stress intensity factors (SIFs) and strain energy release rates (SERRs) at the tips of an interface crack in a nonhomogeneous medium. The complex form of a singular integral equation (SIE) of the second kind was formulated using Bessel s functions in the Fourier domain, and the SIF and total SERR were calculated using Jacoby polynomials. For the validity of the SIF equations to be established, the SIE of the three-concentric-cylinder model was reduced to the SIE for a two-concentric-cylinder model, and the results were compared with the previous results of Erdogan. A preliminary set of parametric studies was carried out to show the effect of interphase properties on the SERR. The method presented here provides insight about the effect of interphase properties on the crack driving force.