Issue 36

V. Petrova et alii, Frattura ed Integrità Strutturale, 36 (2016) 8-26; DOI: 10.3221/IGF-ESIS.36.02 8 Focused on Fracture Mechanics in Central and East Europe Modeling of edge cracks interaction V. Petrova http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9131-2469 Voronezh State University and University of Stuttgart, Russia veraep@gmail.com S. Schmauder University of Stuttgart, Germany siegfried.schmauder@imwf.uni-stuttgart.de A. Shashkin Voronezh State University, Russia shashkin@amm.vsu.ru A BSTRACT . From experimental and theoretical investigations it is known that cracks are sensitive to geometry, e.g., to the inclination angle to the load. A small deviation of a crack from the normal direction to a tensile load causes mixed mode conditions near the crack tip which lead to deviation of the crack from its initial propagation direction. Besides, the presence of other cracks, inhomogeneities, surfaces and their interaction causes additional deformations and stresses which also have influence on the initiation of the crack propagation and on the direction of this propagation. The aim of this paper is to show the effects of the interaction of edge cracks on further crack formation. The main fracture characteristics, such as, stress intensity factors, fracture angles and critical loads are provided in this study. A series of illustrative examples is presented for different geometries of arbitrarily inclined edge cracks. K EYWORDS . Edge cracking; Stress intensity factors; Fracture criteria; Direction of crack propagation; Shielding- amplification effects. I NTRODUCTION urface cracking is observed in many engineering structures, e.g., aircraft structures, turbine blades, engine components and many others, see [1, 2] for some examples and references. In everyday life we can see asphalt pavement cracking, called also as crocodile cracking [3]. The structures are subjected to different mechanical and thermal loading as well have to resist high temperature, wear and aggressive environments. Cracks can initiate from initial defects or microcracks appear during manufacturing or service. An example of multiple surface cracking is the fracture of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), where the upper layer is usually a ceramic - the brittle material. Investigations of thermal barrier coatings show that heating and then subsequent cooling of the coating causes the surface to experience a tensile stress leading to surface cracking [4]. S