A Comparative Study of Crack/Crack Interaction in Composite Materials Using Macro and Micromechanical Models

Abstract

The effects of interaction between crack-like defects in fiber reinforced composite materials on the local stress concentrations in their neighbourhoods are theoretically investigated from the macro and micro and micromechanical points of view. The most simple models consisting of homogeneous and heterogeneous anisotropic elastic plates with two collinear or parallel cracks are assumed, and the mathematical formulations are made in terms of the Cauchy-type singular integral equations of the first kind by the methods of harmonic-type stress functions and Fourier transforms. Numerical calculations are carried out for the stress intensity factors, and the results thus obtained from these models are compared with each other.