Initial fracture process zone at the corner point of the interface between elastic bodies.

A symmetric problem of elasticity is solved to determine the initial fracture process zone at the corner point of a V-shaped interface in a piecewise-homogeneous isotropic body. The interface is a thin elastic layer joining two isotropic elastic materials. The initial fracture process zone is modeled by lines of discontinuity of normal displacement located at the interface. The exact solution of the problem of linear elasticity is found with the Wiener-Hopf method and then used to determine the length of the fracture process zone. The stress state near the corner point is examined [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]