Stress intensity factors and full-field stresses for a hypocycloid-type crack within a thermo-elastic material

This study focuses on the failure analysis of a hypocycloid-type crack within a thermo-elastic material. Employing the conformal mapping method, analytical continuation theorem, and principle of superposition, the explicit general solution for stress intensity factors (SIFs) associated with an arbitrary-edged hypocycloid-type crack is determined analytically under the influence of remote homogeneous heat flux and mechanical load. The superposition method combines stress functions and SIFs for two distinct loading conditions. The outcomes of the normalized SIFs are affected by the magnitude and orientation of the heat flux and mechanical load. A full-field stress distribution is provided to account for variations in SIFs. Certain combinations of loads lead to maximum SIF values, rendering the system highly vulnerable to damage, while two specific scenarios inhibit crack propagation, thereby reducing the risk of structural failure.