Stress Intensity Factor Estimates for a Peripherally Cracked Spherical Void and a Hemispherical Surface Pit

Stress intensity factors are estimated for three‐dimensional defects which occur in ceramic bodies. The two idealized cases considered are a spherical void with a circumferential crack at its equator stressed by uniaxial tension at infinity and a hemispherical pit at a free surface of a semi‐infinite body also stressed by uniaxial tension with a circumferential crack at the semiequator of the pit. These stress intensity factors, which are given as a function of the crack length L to radius R of the spherical void or hemispherical pit, are considered as estimates because of the approximate nature of the analysis.