Crack paths in three-dimensional elastic solids. I: Two-term expansion of the stress intensity factors -- application to crack path stability in hydraulic fracturing (Q1302984)

The paper presents a way how to investigate the crack path stability. The problem is attacked under the most general assumptions: three dimensions, arbitrary geometry of the body and the crack, arbitrary loading. In the crack intersection, two coordinate systems are defined at the crack end point \(O\): one perpendicular to the tangent plane -- \(Ox_1x_2x_3\), and the second inclined due to the kink angle \(\varphi-Ox^*_1x^*_2x^*_3\). The shape of the crack extension is described by the expression \(x^*_2= a^*x_1^{*3/2}+ {C^*\over 2}x_1^{*2} +O(x_1^{*5/2})\); \(x_3=0\), where \(Ox^*_1,Ox^*_2\) denote axes obtained by rotating \(Ox_1,Ox_2\) about \(Ox_3\) by the angle \(\varphi\), and \(a^*,C^*\) are parameters. The crack extension length \(\delta-\delta(s')\) is sought in the form \(\varepsilon\eta(s')\), where \(\varepsilon\) is a small positive parameter, and \(\eta(s')\) is a given fixed nonnegative function. Under these assumptions, the author obtains a two-term expansion of the stress intensity factor in powers of \(\varepsilon\). The derived formulas are applied to a penny shaped crack loaded by mode I far stresses and by an internal pressure.