Solution of the Distribution of Stress Intensity Factor Along the Front of a 3D Rectangular Crack by Using a Singular Integral Equation Method

In this paper a singular integral equation method is applied to calculate the distribution of stress intensity factor along the crack front of a 3D rectangular crack. The stress field induced by body force doublet in an infinite body is used as the fundamental solution. Then, the problem is formulated as integral equation with a singularity of the form r^-3. In solving the integral equation, the unknown functions of body force densities are approxi-mated by the product of a polynomial and a fundamental density function, which expresses stress singularity along the crack front in an infinite body. The calculation shows that the present method gives the smooth variation of stress intensity factors along the crack front for various aspect ratio. The present method gives rapidly converging numerical results and highly satisfied boundary conditions throughout the crack boundary