For the moving semi-infinite crack, take the branch cut of on the negative real axis and ahead of the tip. With steadily moving antiplane shear, face tractions imply . The antisymmetric displacement response gives . Hence has jump . The Sokhotski–Plemelj theorem gives the displayed Cauchy integral, assuming convergence and no extra remote homogeneous loading. For it is purely imaginary, so . At fixed co-moving loading this ahead-of-tip stress is independent of speed; the displacement still has the factor .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 70 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For antiplane shear, the only nonzero infinitesimal strains are and . Their trace is zero. The isotropic constitutive law consequently giveswith every other component zero. The first two equations of motion vanish because the fields are independent of . The third is , henceThe PDF omits the final equals-zero; this is the equation supplied by momentum balance.
For a steadily moving field put and . In the subsonic case , the equation becomes . With it reduces to . Thus is a harmonic function and, on a simply connected region, has a harmonic conjugate; there is a holomorphic function such thatThis is steadily moving antiplane shear. The representation is local on more general domains unless the conjugate's periods vanish. The subsonic condition is essential: at or above the shear-wave speed the coordinate rescaling is degenerate or the equation is hyperbolic rather than this elliptic harmonic problem.