Propagation of a Dugdale crack between two orthotropic half-planes

The aim of this work is to study the propagation of a Dugdale crack between two orthotropic half-planes. The two mediums are of the same unidirectional composite material. The fibers are oriented symmetrically with respect to the interface. The applied propagation criteria are deduced from the revisited Griffith theory (Ferdjani, H. and J.-J. Marigo, European Journal of Mechanics - A/Solids, 2015. 53: p. 1–9). To resolve the problem, the Lekhnitskii-Eshelby-Stroh representation is used (Suo, Z. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 427, 331–358 (1990)). The fracture threshold and the evolution of the applied load are determined for different cases of fiber orientation and crack length. A comparison with the Griffith's model is also presented. © 2017