Influence of the intermediate material on the order of stress singularity in three-phase bonded structure

The plane problem for dissimilar materials composed of three isotropic homogeneous wedges with arbitrary angles under surface tractions is analysed using the theory of elasticity. The order of singularity in stress fields near the apex of a three-phase bonded structure is investigated. It is first demonstrated how the order of stress singularity varies with several combination8 of material with different properties in cases where the angles of wedge are of n/3-n/3x/3 and n/2- n/2-n/2. When the materials and wedge angles of the side regions are identical, the order of stress singularity is additionally studied in detail, with the wedge angle of the intermediate region varying in cases where the total angle of the bonded wedge geometry is fixed and not tixed. A method reducing the stress singularity in a two-phase bonded structure is finally proposed