A novel weight function for RMS stress intensity factor determination in surface cracks

This paper discusses the problem of stress intensity factor determination in surface cracks. In particular, the concept of root mean square stress intensity factors (RMS SIF) is discussed for the general class of semi-elliptical surface cracks. The weight function SIF derivation method is considered, problems with the existing techniques are highlighted, and a novel technique for the derivation of the RMS SIF weight functions for surface cracks is presented and results are compared with numerical solutions for a variety of loadings and geometries.