Interfacial edge crack between dissimilar orthotropic thermoelastic materials under uniform heat flow

This study analyzes an interfacial edge crack in an orthotropic thermoelastic bimaterial subjected to uniform heat flux at infinity. The problem is formulated on the basis of transformed function representations of plane solutions for anisotropic thermoelastic solids. The interface stress intensity factors are obtained in terms of four proposed thermal load parameters and two dimensionless coefficient matrices. It is shown that one of the coefficient matrices depends on eight material parameters whereas the other coefficient matrix is affected by only six material parameters. The orthotropic rescaling technique is used to examine the explicit dependence of the two coefficient matrices on one orthotropic material parameter. The effects of the other material parameters on the coefficient matrices are examined numerically. The energy release rate and mode mixity for the interface crack are also obtained.