The study of the strength of structures weakened by a system of cracks.

Strength of Space vehicles is a crucial issue for Space flight safety. The presence of latent defects in the material has a significant effect on the strength at different loads: the speed and direction of crack growth. In this paper, we study a three-dimensional elastic medium weakened by a system of plane cracks and one crack with a bend. As a numerical method, the method of boundary elements was chosen, namely, the method of discontinuous displacements. The code is implemented in C ++. A comparison was made with known analytical results. Bend crack behavior is studied for various loads. • Cracks with a bend always begin to grow along the bend line. • Numerically developed stress intensity factors are in good agreement with analytical solutions. • Two plane fractures interaction in space being located at an angle was investigated. • Stress intensity factor depends on the nature of the applied load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]