A Novel Principle of the Computation of Stress Intensity Factors

A state of plane strain in a notched or cracked elastic domain under the action of boundary tractions is considered. It is shown that the stress intensity factor K at a root of a notch can be re presented in the form of a weighted average of the tractions, and that the weight functions involved can be derived from the boundary displacements of two special stress fields, each of which is characterized by a fundamental singularity at the root and by the absence of externally impressed forces.