Hole growth in plane viscous creep including interaction effects

A basis is presented for modeling the creep rupture process in terms of cavity growth by viscous creep deformation. It is shown that hole interactions must be included in the analysis in order to establish a rupture criterion. A technique introduced by Berg to study the growth of single holes is extended to treat two-hole geometries. The initial displacement rates for the case of two circular holes are calculated and interaction effects are examined.