Stress intensity factor around a Griffith crack in an orthotropic punched layer

A study is made of the plane strain problem to determine the stress intensity factor for a Griffith crack in an orthotropic elastic layer with punches located along the boundaries of the layer. The problem is reduced to the solution of a pair of simultaneous singular integral equations with the Cauchy type singularities. These integral equations are then solved approximately by using the Chebyshev polynomials. An expression for the stress intensity factor (SIF) for the case of a general loading is obtained. Numerical results for the SIF are presented graphically for some particular cases of interest. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved