Singularities of an interface crack impinging on a triple grain junction

The crack-tip stress-field singularity of a crack lying along a grain boundary and impinging on a grain triple junction is investigated. The three grains forming the triple junction are considered to be made from the same anisotropic material, albeit with different orientations of the principal material axes. The analysis is limited to elastic plane-strain deformation and is carried out using the Eshelby-Stroh formalism for anisotropic elasticity. The effect of the anisotropy on the level of the singularity is investigated for both transversely cubic and orthotropic grains.