| Abstract: | The 3D‐elasticity model of a solid with a plane crack under the stress‐free boundary conditions at the crack is considered. We investigate variations of a solution and of energy functionals with respect to perturbations of the crack front in the plane. The corresponding expansions at least up to the second‐order terms are obtained. The strong derivatives of the solution are constructed as an iterative solution of the same elasticity problem with specified right‐hand sides. Using the expansion of the potential and surface energy, we consider an approximate quadratic form for local shape optimization of the crack front defined by the Griffith criterion. To specify its properties, a procedure of discrete optimization is proposed, which reduces to a matrix variational inequality. At least for a small load we prove its solvability and find a quasi‐static model of the crack growth depending on the loading parameter. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
