A conservation integral for arbitrarily curved interface cracks under thermal loading

Abstract

A conservation integral, which consists of the path and area integral, for arbitrarily curved interfacial cracks under thermal loading is proposed and shown to have the physical meaning of energy release rate for the curved interface cracks. Three cases of interface cracks under thermal loading are investigated to show the usefulness and convenience of this conservation integral. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.