Crack tip fields in anisotropic planes: a review

Abstract

This paper reviews crack tip asymptotic fields in generic plane anisotropic media, rigorously categorising about 400 studies devoted to the determination of the asymptote coefficients, also referred to as crack tip parameters. These studies cover a broad spectrum of methodologies focused on determining crack tip parameters in anisotropic materials, from analytical, numerical and experimental perspectives, conducted over the last six decades. Brief descriptions are given for a selected number of approaches to shed light on their general concepts and their methodology to characterise crack tip parameters. Lastly, the influence of higher order coefficients in the crack tip stress field is demonstrated by a representative example from the literature.