Abstract
The aim of this work is an analysis of contact pressure between crack surfaces and its influence on effective elasticproperties of materials with randomly distributed cracks. The finite element method (FEM) and the boundary element methods (BEM) are applied to the numerical analysis of materials, and the results are compared. Three numerical results are presented. The accuracy of contact pressure obtained by numerical solutions is verified for a single inclined crack in an infinite plate subjected to compression by comparison with an analytical solution. The influence of angle between cracks and directions of compressive loading on contact pressure for a branched crack in a rectangular plate is studied. The effective Young moduli and Poisson ratios for a rectangular plate with randomly distributed cracks are computed. The plate contains intersecting cracks which are in contact when the plate is subjected to tension or compression.