Boundary element analysis of stress intensity factor KI in some two-dimensional dynamic thermoelastic problems

This paper presents a numerical technique for the calculation of stress intensity factor as a function of time for coupled thermoelastic problems. In this task, effect of inertia term considering coupled theory of thermoelasticity is investigated and its importance is shown.A boundary element method using Laplace transform in time-domain is developed for the analysis of fracture mechanic considering dynamic coupled thermoelasticity problems in two-dimensional finite domain. The Laplace transform method is applied to the time-domain and the resulting equations in the transformed field are discretized using boundary element method. Actual physical quantities in time-domain is obtained, using the numerical inversion of the Laplace transform method.The singular behavior of the temperature and stress fields in the vicinity of the crack tip is modeled by quarter-point elements. Thermal dynamic stress intensity factor for mode I is evaluated using J-integral method. By using J-integral method effects of inertia term and other terms such as strain energy on stress intensity factor may be investigated separately and their importance may be shown. The accuracy of the method is investigated through comparison of the results with the available data in literature.