Multiple unequal cracks between an FGM orthotropic layer and an orthotropic substrate under mixed mode concentrated loads

In the present paper, multiple interface cracks between a functionally graded orthotropic coating and an orthotropic half-plane substrate under concentrated loading are considered by means of the distribution dislocation technique (DDT). With the use of integration of Fourier transform the problem is reduced to a system of Cauchy-type singular integral equations which are solved numerically to compute the dislocation density on the surfaces of the cracks. The distribution dislocation is a powerful method to calculate accurate solutions to plane crack problems, especially this method is very good to find SIFs for multiple unequal cracks located at the interface. Hence this technique allows considering any number of interface cracks. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of the interaction of multiple interface cracks, load location, material orthotropy, nonhomogeneity parameters and geometry parameters on the modes I and II SIFs. Numerical results show that modes I/II SIFs decrease with increasing the nonhomogeneity parameter and the highest magnitude of SIF occurs where distances between the load location and crack tips are minimal.