Abstract
In linear fracture mechanics, stress intensity factors controlling fracture behavior of materials are calculated from stress distributions acting on the crack surface by the aid of superposition even for remote applied stresses: These stress distributions, however, cannot be measured directly in the crack opening state because of the stress relief, which is seen in tensile residual stress fields for instance. In this report, such stress distributions are assessed by measuring the opening displacements along a crack under tensile loading, using the equation that was derived based on the complex-valued formulas on the stress and displacement of a two - dimensional crack. The known analytical opening displacements for cracks whose surfaces are subjected to a given stress distribution are used for numerically checking the validity of the equation. Using a rectangular specimen, it was found that this method was useful for the estimation of the stress intensity factors of central cracks opened by axial tensile loading.
