Transient crack propagation in asymmetric cruciform paths (Q1090521)

The problem of two cracks emanating from the same origin and propagating asymmetrically at different velocities in an elastic and isotropic solid is treated in this paper. An unbounded and otherwise undistributed medium and a constant anti-plane loading at infinity were assumed. Techniques of self-similar elastodynamics were utilized in conjunction with analytic- function theory. Since a closed-form solution of such a problem is impossible we relied in the last steps of the procedure upon numerical analysis.