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fm Page 84 Thursday, April 14, 2005 6:28 PM

84 Fracture Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications

FIGURE 2.54 Optimum propagation angle for a crack oriented at an angle β from the stress axis.

Solving for aeq gives

aeq
[ ]
2
= cos2 βC11 (α ∗ ) + sin β cos βC12 (α ∗ ) (2.100)
a

2.11.3 BIAXIAL LOADING

Figure 2.55 illustrates a cracked plate subject to principal stresses σ1 and σ2, where σ1 is the greater
of the two stresses; β is defined as the angle between the crack and the σ1 plane. Applying superposition
leads to the following expressions for KI and KII :

K I = K I ( 0 ) (cos2 β + B sin 2 β ) (2.101a)

K II = K I ( 0 ) (sin β cos β )(1 − B) (2.101b)

where B is the biaxiality ratio, defined as

σ2
B= (2.102)
σ1
The local Mode I stress intensity for a kinked crack is obtained by substituting Equation (2.101)
into Equation (2.94a):

[ ]
kI (α ) = K I ( 0 ) (cos2 β + B sin 2 β )C11 (α ) + (sin β cos β )(1 − B)C12 (α ) (2.103)