Fracture analysis in micropolar elasticity: anti-plane crack

Anti-plane fracture analysis is performed for a micropolar material.The crack problem is reduced as Cauchy singular integral equations by Fourier integral transform. Numerical solutions of the stress intensity factors are obtained by the Lobatto-Chebyshev collocationmethod. Parametric studies indicate that the fracture behavior of the micropolar material depends on the coupling factor and the internal length scale. Larger coupling factor and internal length scale lead to stronger micropolar effect. The micropolarity is beneficial to reducing the driving force of a micro-crack, however, it may also prompt the propagation of a macro-crack