Cracking of an orthotropic substrate reinforced by an orthotropic plate. (Q1430796)

The authors consider an orthotropic semi-infinite substrate reinforced by an orthotropic plate of finite width and height under plane-strain conditions with an edge crack and an internal crack. The crack aligned with an edge of the plate is perpendicular to the substrate boundary. The problem is formulated in terms of a coupled system of singular integral equations which are solved numerically by an improved collocation method. Stress intensity factors are evaluated for various material parameters and geometries concerning the reinforcing plate and crack configurations. It turns out that stress intensity factors at the internal crack tips increase with decreasing plate thickness, and they also increase with decreasing crack distance from the substrate boundary. The stress intensity factors at the tip of an edge crack at the corners of the plate for both mode I and mode II increase as the crack tip approaches the boundary. The study also discusses the influence of material property on stress intensification.