Equilibrium of cavities and cracks-slits with overlap and opening domains in an elastic medium (Q581098)

A class of three-dimensional problems in elasticity theory on the equilibrium of cracks-slits and cavities (later also called cracks with an initial opening) is examined on the assumption that their surfaces can be superimposed on each other under the action of a system of volume forces. The boundaries of the overlap domains are not known in advance. The qualitative and extremal properties of the solutions that enable a correspondence to be established between solutions of problems for variations of the cavity domain and its initial opening (or the shape of the crack-slit) and, the external loads, in which enable the solutions of problems of the class under consideration and problems on the contact of two half-spaces to be compared are studied. A uniqueness theorem is formulated. Proofs of all the assertions are obtained within the framework of a single approach by using asymptotic forms of the solutions near the boundaries of the overlap zones and congruence theorems (reflecting the property of positivity of the solutions of the problem under consideration). In this connection the asymptotic behaviour of the solution is first analysed in the neighbourhood of the overlap and opening zone boundaries of the cavity (crack-slit) surfaces. A class of functions that describes the initial cavity opening for which the solution near the boundaries of these domains is not singular is investigated. It is shown that the method of seeking the unknown overlap domain boundaries from the condition of no singularity while taking account of the proved assertions is equivalent to the method based on minimizing the elastic energy functional with constraints in the form of inequalities.