A Numerical Method of Analyzing Interface Crack Problem

A numerical method of analyzing fracture mechanics parameters for interface crack was presented. This method utilizes the node-point displacement and node-point load of finite element analysis to evaluate the stress intensity factor K. As an example, the K value of cracks in a homogeneous material was evaluated with the mesh size having 5-10% of the crack length and high accuracy with less than 5% error was obtained. For cracks on the Al/epoxy bi-material interface, the Mode-I stress intensity factor evaluated with or without no-slip zone was found to be analogous to the analysis by Mak et al. Also a linear relationship was found between KI and the stress σyy in the crack tip element irrespective of material combination, stress state or loading condition.