Crack tip stress intensity factors for a crack emanating from a semi-infinite notch with application to the avoidance of fatigue in complete contacts

Crack tip stress intensity factors are found for the problem of a short crack adjacent to the apex of a notch, and lying perpendicular to one of the notch faces. Loading is represented by the two Williams eigensolutions, the ratio between which provides a reference length scale and permits a comprehensive display of the solution. The results are applied to the problem of a crack starting from the edge of a notionally adhered complete contact, and conditions for the avoidance of crack development are found. © IMechE 2009.