Investigation of macrocrack-microcrack interaction problems in anisotropic elastic solids – Part I: General solution to the problem and application of the J-integral

A general solution is derived for the plane problem of multiple microcracks near the tip in process zone of a semi-infinite macrocrack in an anisotropic elastic solid. The pseudo-traction method, addressed thoroughly in isotropic cases, is extended to anisotropic cases. A system of Fredholm integral equations, with difficulty in evaluation of the singular integrals, is solved by invoking the asymptotic behavior of the pseudo-tractions on the macrocrack faces. The interaction effect of the release of residual stresses due to near-tip microcracking is then evaluated. The J-integral analysis is also performed to give a consistency check of the solution and some useful conclusions. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.