2d Elastodynamics of an Interface Crack

The rapid development of different areas of engineering, creation of new structures make the computational fracture mechanics a topic area. Among the most important applied problems there are structural strength problems, complicated by various flaws (cracks, delaminations, etc). The presence of cracks and delaminations considerably decreases the strength and the lifetime of the composite structures as well as significantly increases the cost of exploitation [1]. Unfortunately, the micro-defects cannot be fully avoided. Therefore a considerable body of work was devoted to cracks in homogeneous materials [2–4]. At the same time elastodynamic investigation of intercomponent cracks received much less attention due to the substantial complications which arise in numerical solution of such problems. Primarily the publications concerning crack fracture in composite materials are focused on static loading. However, understanding the mechanism of dynamic fracture in composite materials becomes more and more important with the increased use of composites in modern engineering, where the components are frequently subjected to dynamic loadings; see, for example, [5–8].