Summary: One considers a planar tunnel-crack embedded in an infinite isotropic brittle solid and loaded in mode \(2+3\) through some uniform shear remote loading. The crack front is slightly perturbed within the crack plane, from its rectilinear configuration. Part I of this work investigates the two following questions: Is there a wavy ”bifurcated” configuration of the front for which the energy release rate is uniform along it? Will any given perturbation decay or grow during propagation? To address these problems, the distribution of the stress intensity factors (SIF) and the energy release rate along the perturbed front is derived using Bueckner-Rice’s weight function theory. A ”critical” sinusoidal bifurcated configuration of the front is found; both its wavelength and the ”phase difference” between the fore and rear parts of the front depend upon the ratio of the initial (prior to perturbation of the front) mode 2 and 3 SIF. Also, it is shown that the straight configuration of the front is stable versus perturbations with wavelength smaller than the critical one but unstable versus perturbations with wavelength larger than it. This conclusion is similar to those derived by Gao and Rice and the authors for analogous problems.
For Part II, see ibid. 39, No.17, 4437–4455 (2002; Zbl 1049.74759).