Emerging crack front identification from tangential surface displacements

Abstract: We present in this Note an identification method for the crack front of a crack emerging at the surface of an elastic solid, provided displacements field or its tangential components are given on a part free of loading of the external surface. The method is based on two steps. The first one is the solution of a Cauchy problem in order to expand the displacement field within the solid up to a surface enclosing the unknown crack. Then the reciprocity gap method is used in order to determine the displacement jump on the crack and then the crack itself. We prove then an identifiability result. The method is illustrated with two synthetic examples: a crossing crack with linear crack front and an elliptic emerging crack. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]