Interfacial steady-state and transient thermal fracture of dissimilar media using the boundary element contact analysis

A boundary element procedure is formulated to treat frictional contact problems of thermally stressed structures. The aim is the computation of steady-state and time-dependent thermal stress intensity factors of interfacial cracks in two-dimensional bimaterial structures when crack closure conditions are present. The effect of friction between the crack faces is taken into consideration. The problems considered are formulated in an incremental and iterative fashion because of their non-linear nature. Near crack tip singularities of temperature and displacement fields are modelled through appropriate quarter-point singular elements. Fracture parameters are evaluated from nodal displacements of singular elements utilizing proper formulas. Numerical results are compared with available solutions from the literature, where possible. Good agreement between them can be found