An investigation of dynamic interaction between multiple cracks and inclusions by TDBEM

Abstract In this paper, the dynamic interaction between multiple inclusions and cracks is studied by the time-domain boundary element method (TDBEM). To deal with this problem, two kinds of time-domain boundary integral equations together with the sub-region technique are applied. The cracked solid is divided into homogeneous and isotropic sub-regions bounded by the interfaces between the inclusions and the matrix. The non-hypersingular traction boundary integral equations are applied on the crack-surfaces; while the traditional displacement boundary integral equations are used on the interfaces and the exterior boundaries. In the numerical solution procedure, square-root shape functions are adopted for the crack-opening-displacements to describe the proper asymptotic behavior in the vicinity of the crack-tips. Numerical results for dynamic stress intensity factors are presented for various cases. The effects of the inclusion position, material combinations and multiple micro-cracks on the dynamic stress intensity factors are discussed.