Influence of the Lateral Process Zone Near the Tip of an Interface Crack on the Contact of its Faces

Abstract

Under conditions of plane deformation, by using the Wiener–Hopf method, we compute a small-scale contact zone near the tip of an interface crack under the condition of formation of the lateral process zone in its vicinity. It is assumed that the dry friction of the faces according to the Coulomb law is realized in the contact zone. We determine the sizes of the contact zone and deduce an expression for the contact stresses and an equation for the determination of the index of singularity of stresses near the crack tip. The influence of the load, friction coefficient, and elastic characteristics of the joined materials on the sizes of the contact zone is investigated. It is shown that, in the presence of the process zone, the length of the contact zone begins to depend not only on the configuration of the external load but also on its value.