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SUMMARYA fundamental field for the edge crack problem is suggested, and the field is composed of the singular displacement field and the complementary regular field. The boundary displacement of the fundamental field plays the role of the weight function in the edge crack problem. After multiplying the boundary traction in the physical problem with the weight function and performing integration along the boundary, the stress intensity factor at the crack tip is obtainable. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the use of the suggested weight function approach.KEY WORDS weight function approach; edge crack problem

For a cracked orthotropic torsion bar, the torsion compliance C is evaluated numerically in this paper. The dependence of the compliance C with respect to the crack length A will give the stress intensity factor at the crack tip. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the influence of the elastic material constants of orthotropic materials. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.