Wedge loading of a semi-infinite strip with an edge crack

The problem of a semi-infinite strip containing an edge crack is considered. It is assumed that the strip is loaded by a frictionless rigid wedge pressed into the crack. The resulting crack-contact problem is formulated in terms of a system of singular integral equations. The behavior of the solution near the singular points is studied in detail. A series of numerical examples is given and the results are compared with those obtained by the method of boundary collocation and by the simple beam theory.