Energy condition at the end of a nonstationary crack

Abstract

The plane problem of the theory of elasticity is considered. It is assumed that in the neighborhood of the tip of an arbitrarily moving crack the stresses have a singularity of order r^−1/2. On this assumption a general expression is obtained for the distribution of the stresstensor components in the given neighborhood. This distribution is determined by the two parameters N and P. In the case of stresses symmetrical about the line of the crack (P=0) the angular distribution does not depend on the intensity coefficient N and is determined only by the velocity of the crack at the given instant and the transverse and longitudinal wave velocities. On the same assumptions it is shown that the energy condition obtained by Craggs for the particular case of steady-state motion is a necessary condition for the arbitrarily moving crack. Irwin [1] and Cherepanov [2] have studied these questions in the quasi-static approximation.