Study of an interfacial semi-infinite crack in a composite structure

The article contains the solution of a semi-infinite crack present at the interface of two dissimilar orthotropic strips sandwiched between dissimilar orthotropic strips. The crack is moving with a constant velocity, and the surface is under shear wave disturbance. Using the Fourier integral transform, the standard form for the Wiener–Hopf (W–H) equation is obtained for the proposed mathematical model, which is solved using the W–H method. The approximate analytic expressions for stress intensity factor, normalised stress intensity factor (NSIF) and the crack energy have been obtained for the considered crack problem. The behaviour of NSIF and normalised crack energy has been graphically presented for different crack propagation velocities and various ratios of depths of the strips of the composite material for different particular cases. The novelty of the article lies in finding the approximate analytic solutions of the proposed mathematical model using the W–H method, finding the expression for the length of the contact region near the crack tip and the pictorial presentations of the impact of exterior strips on the two dissimilar bonded strips containing the crack through finding the stress magnification factor.