Mixed mode stress singularities in anisotropic composites

Multi-material wedges composed of fully anisotropic elastic sectors generally show intrinsic coupling of the anti-plane and in-plane modes of deformation. Each anisotropic sector has three complex conjugate pairs of material eigensolutions whose form of expression depends on five distinct types of anisotropic materials. Continuity of the displacements and the tractions across the sector interfaces and the traction-free conditions on two exterior boundary edges determine an infinite sequence of eigenvalues and eigensolutions of the multi-material wedge. These eigensolutions are linearly combined to match the traction-boundary data (generated by global finite element analysis of the structure) on a circular path encircling the singularity. The analysis method is applied to a bimaterial wedge near the free edge of a four-layer angle-ply laminate, and to a trimaterial wedge surrounding the tip of an embedded oblique crack in a three-layer composite. Under a uniform temperature load, the elasticity solution based on the eigenseries yields interfacial stresses that are significantly different from the asymptotic solution (given by the first term of the eigenseries), even as the distance from the singularity decreases to subatomic scales. Similar observations have been found previously for isotropic and orthotropic multi-material wedges. This raises serious questions with regard to characterizing the criticality of stress singularity exclusively in terms of the asymptotic solution and the associated stress intensity factors or generalized stress intensity factors.