Influence of elastic T-stress on the growth direction of two parallel cracks

This paper studies fracture initiation direction of two parallel non-coplanar cracks of equal length. Using the dislocation pile-up modelling, singular integral equations for two parallel cracks subjected to mixed-mode loading are derived and the crack-tip field including singular and non-singular terms is obtained. The kinking angle is determined by using the maximum hoop stress criterion, or the sigma(0)-criterion. Results are presented for simple uniaxial tension and biaxial loading. The biaxiality ratio has a noticeable influence on crack growth direction. For the case of biaxial tension, when neglecting the T-stress the crack branching angle is overestimated for small crack inclination angles relative to the largest applied principal stress direction, and underestimated for large crack inclination angles.