Elastic fields of interacting inhomogeneities (Q1062792)

A rather general technique - called the ''method of pseudotractions'' - is presented for the calculation of the stress and strain fields in a linearly elastic homogeneous solid which contains any number of defects of arbitrary shape. The method is introduced and illustrated in terms of the problems of elastic solids containing two or several circular holes and solids containing two or several cracks, including the cases of rows of holes or cracks. It is shown that the solution of these and similar problems can be obtained to any desired degree of accuracy. Furthermore, if only estimates are needed, then the method is capable of yielding closed-form analytic expressions for many interesting cases, e.g. the stress intensity factors at the crack tips. [See also: the authors, J. Geophys. Res. 90, 3150-3125 (1985).]