The elastostatic axisymmetric problem of a sphere containing a penny-shaped crack in a nonequatorial plane

The axisymmetric problem of a sphere containing a penny-shaped crack in a nonequitorial plane is solved with the use of Bousinesq stress functions. Two coordinate systems—oblate spheroidal for representing the crack surface and spherical polars for the spherical surface, translated along the z-axis with respect to each other—are used to satisfy boundary conditions. Integral representations and transformations of harmonic functions are used to relate stress functions in the two coordinate systems. This procedure-leads to a system of algebraic equations which is solved, for axisymmetric tractions on both the surfaces. Graphical results are presented for a specific loading case.