A numerical method for analyzing multiple void-crack interaction in a plane elastic media

This paper presents an approach to modeling a generalsystem containing multiple interacting cracks and voids in a plane elasticmedia. By extending Bueckner's principle suited for a crack to a generalsystem containing multiple interacting cracks and voids, the originalproblem is divided into a homogeneous problem (the one without cracks andvoids) subjected to remote loads and a multiple void-crack problem in anunloaded body with applied tractions on the surfaces of cracks and voids.Thus, the results in terms of stress intensity factors (SIFs) can beobtained by considering the latter problem, which is analyzed easily bymeans of the Hybrid Displacement Discontinuity Method (HDDM) proposedrecently by the author. Many test examples are included to illustrate thatthe method is very simple and effective for analyzing arbitrarymultiple cracks and voids in a plane elastic media.