The Propagation of a Crack by a Rigid Wedge in an Infinite Power Law Viscoelastic Body

Closed-form solutions are obtained for the problem of a crack propagated by a 2-dimensional rigid wedge of finite thickness in an infinite power law viscoelastic body. The distance from the crack tip to the point of contact with the wedge is determined from the assumption that in the vicinity of the crack tip, forces of cohesion act to produce a smoothly closing crack with continuous stresses. Finally, a simple formula expressing the stress-intensity factor as a function of the speed of penetration and the length of the free crack surface is exhibited.