Configurational Forces on Elastic Line Singularities

Configurational forces acting on two-dimensional (2D) elastic line singularities are evaluated by path-independent J-, M-, and L-integrals in the framework of plane strain linear elasticity. The elastic line singularities considered in this study are the edge dislocation, the line force, the nuclei of strain, and the concentrated couple moment that are subjected to far-field loads. The interaction forces between two similar parallel elastic singularities are also calculated. Self-similar expansion force, M, evaluated for the line force shows that it is exactly the negative of the strain energy prelogarithmic factor as in the case for the well-known edge dislocation result. It is also shown that the M-integral result for the nuclei of strain and the L-integral result for the line force yield interesting nonzero expressions under certain circumstances.