Cracks as Limits of Eshelby Inclusions

Abstract

As limiting behaviors of Eshelby ellipsoidal inclusions with transformation strain, crack solutions can be obtained both in statics and dynamics (for self-similarly expanding ones). Here is presented the detailed analysis of the static tension and shear cracks, as distributions of vertical centers of eigenstrains and centers of antisymmetric shear, respectively, inside the ellipse being flattened to a crack, so that the singular external field is obtained by the analysis, while the interior is zero. It is shown that a distribution of eigenstrains that produces a symmetric center of shear cannot produce a crack. A possible model for a Barenblatt type crack is proposed by the superposition of two elliptical inclusions by adjusting their small axis and strengths of eigenstrains so that the singularity cancels at the tip.