Interaction between coplanar elliptic cracks—II shear loading

The present paper extends the method of integral equation developed in Part I "Roy and Chatterjee\ 0883# to the three!dimensional problem of interaction between two equal coplanar elliptical cracks embedded in an in_nite isotropic elastic medium under shear loading[ The dual integral equations obtained from the mixed boundary value problem in the present situation are coupled and reduced to in_nite systems of Fredholm integral equations of the second kind*four systems corresponding to the _rst crack and four to the second crack[ Analytical expressions for the two tangential displacement functions have been given up to the order b4 "b being the crack separation parameter#[ Numerical results for the two shear stress intensity factors\ K1"8# and K2"8#\ together with the interaction e}ects have been tabulated and illustrated graphically