An orthotropic laminate composite containing a layer with a crack

A laminate composite containing an orthotropic layer with a crack situated normal to the interfaces, and bonded to two orthotropic half-planes of dissimilar materials was considered. The solutions for two different classes of orthotropic materials are presented. In each case, the problem was first reduced to a system of dual integral equations, then to a singular integral equation which was subsequently solved numerically for the stress intensity factors at the tip of the crack. The effect of the material properties on the stress intensity factor was investigated. The generalized plane stress and the plane strain were treated simultaneously.