Stress intensity factors of inclined kinked edge cracks: A simplified approach

A simplified approach for evaluating the stress intensity factors of an inclined edge kinked crack in a semi-plane is presented. This is based on an analytical weight function, recently derived by the authors, accounting for the principal geometrical parameters governing the problem: the initial inclination angle, the kinked angle and the ratio between the length of the two crack segments a/a0. Since the weight function coefficients must be expressed in tabular form parametric in the a/a0 ratio, the computational efficiency of the method was improved by investigating the possibility of substituting the original kinked crack with an equivalent crack connecting the two extremities of the original crack and made up by a main linear segment ending with an infinitesimal kinked part aligned with the terminal kinked segment of the original crack. It was found out that an acceptable stress intensity factors estimation is obtained for crack kinking angles comprised between −30° and 30° and a/a0 ratios not higher than 1/5.