Behavior of a Horizontal Fluid Filled Crack Under Moving Hertzian Load

Numerical analysis is presented for a fluid filled subsurface crack in an elastic half plane loaded by Hertzian contact stresses. The opening volume of the horizontal Griffith crack is fully occupied by an incompressible fluid. In the presence of friction, a moving Hertzian line contact load is applied at the surface of the half plane. The stress intensity factors at the tips of the fluid filled crack are analyzed on condition that the change of the opening crack volume vanishes due to the fluid incompressibility. The method used is that of replacing the crack by a continuous distribution of edge dislocations. As a cycle of rolling can be viewed as shifting the Hertzian contact stresses across the surface of the half plane, the results of this analysis may prove useful in the prediction of rolling fatigue of an elastic rolling body containing a soft inclusion.