Numerical Investigation of Stress Singularities in Cracked Bimaterial Body

Composite materials or generally materials with interfaces are nowadays used in many varied engineering applications. In comparison with classical engineering materials the existence of material interface causes locally different stress distribution, which can strongly influence behaviour of whole structure and can have an important influence on failure mechanisms of such materials. The paper presented is devoted to the investigation of stress singularity exponents of a crack growing in a bimaterial body perpendicularly to the interface and touching the material interface. Discrepancies between value of stress singularity exponent in the centre of bimaterial body and on the free surface were found. The assumptions of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) and small scale yielding (SSY) are considered. For numerical calculations finite element analysis was used. Results obtained can contribute to a better understanding of failure of materials with interfaces.