Bounding functions for stress intensity factors

Abstract

Functions for determining upper and lower bounds on opening mode stress intensity factors are derived. These are used to determine bounding functions for a radial crack at the edge of a hole and for a crack at the edge of a finite width strip. It is shown that, for the limiting case of vanishingly small cracks, these bounding functions approach a value which is in agreement with previously determined values for an edge crack in a half-plane. The application to cracks at holes is assessed by using the functions to determine upper and lower bounds on the stress intensity factor of a crack at a hole in a large sheet for a wide range of loading conditions, typical of engineering applications, and for which accurate results are available. The upper and lower bounds are shown to be within a few percent of each other either side of the accurate results, particularly in the important range of small crack lengths. A similar situation is shown to occur for the upper and lower bounds determined from the bounding functions for an edge cracked strip where the strip is subjected to a thermal transient stress distribution.