| This thesis examines the suitability of two techniques, the body force method and Kachanov's method, for calculating stress intensity factors when multiple cracks interact. The theoretical background for both methods are provided. Details which appear to be missing in the English language literature are developed for the body force method. A generalization of Kachanov's method is also developed to improve accuracy.; Although this research was motivated by the need for stress intensity factors in order to simulate the growth of stress corrosion cracks which are three-dimensional in nature, this thesis focuses primarily on the interaction of two-dimensional cracks. With the two-dimensional framework established, a discussion is given on extending these above methods to three-dimensional interaction.; The body force method was found to be very accurate and efficient, with computation times about two orders of magnitude less than the finite element method. The generalization to Kachanov's method was also very efficient, but extending it to three-dimensional interaction is expected to be much more challenging than the body force method.; Recommendations are given for further improving the efficiency of the above methods and for extending the research to more practical problems. |
