Determination of Weight Functions for Cracks Under Mode-II Loading

For cracks under mode-I loading, it has been demonstrated that a general weight function expression with three unknown parameters can be used to approximate a variety of crack configurations under mode-I loading. For a given crack geometry, the unknown parameters can be determined from reference stress intensity factors (SIFs) together with characteristic properties of the weight functions. It is demonstrated in this paper that a general weight function expression also exists for cracks under mode II loading. The determination of weight functions for cracks in mode II can then also be conducted using reference stress intensity factors (SIFs) together with characteristic properties of the weight functions. This method is used to obtain the mode II weight functions for test specimens including single edge cracked plate, internal center cracked plate and double edge cracked plate. These derived weight functions were further used to calculate the SIFs for the above cracks subjected to several linear and non-linear shear loads and were compared to available SIF solutions.