Small Scale Yielding at a Crack Normal to the Interface Between an Elastic and a Yielding Material

By using the elastic singular field as a prescribed loading condition, small scale yielding solutions are obtained for a crack normal to the interface between a brittle and a ductile material. Results for both a crack in the brittle material and one in the ductile material are obtained by finite element analysis. The crack tip fields obtained by the finite element analysis are compared with the asymptotic solutions. It is found that near the tip the stress fields approach the asymptotic solutions. If the crack is in the brittle material, the high triaxial stresses are developed near the interface ahead of the crack tip.