Weight functions and thermal stress intensity factors for two symmetric non-collinear radial cracks in cylinders

In the present paper, the weight function was derived for a cylinder with two symmetric non-collinear radial cracks. For this purpose, the finite element software ABAQUS was employed to determine the unknown parameters of the weight function considering three reference load conditions. These coefficients are a function of the angle between the cracks and crack relative depth. Green's function was applied to validate the point-bypoint accuracy of the derived weight function. The results were compared with those obtained from finite element analysis, and a good agreement was achieved. Subsequently, the closed-form solution was presented for the stress intensity factors resulting from steady-state thermo-mechanical loading, and it was compared with the finite element results showing good agreement. The results indicated that two symmetric cracks under prescribing temperature to the cylinder surface were the most conservative case in the design phase.