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The authors have developed a new line-spring boundary element method which couples the line-spring model with the boundary element method to deal with the problem of a surface cracked plate. However, the drawback of the line-spring model is that a reliable stress intensity factor could not be directly obtained near the free surface intersection. Therefore, the virtual crack extension technique is employed in a post-processor of the line-spring boundary element method to obtain the stress intensity factor at the crack front-free surface intersection. Theoretical analysis is described. Stress intensity factors for surface cracks are calculated to verify the proposed method. The interaction of two surface cracks is also investigated. The solutions obtained by the line-spring boundary element method show that the method proposed is efficient and reasonably accurate. Nomenclature a a ( x ) = A = C Ci, j = d = E = ERRT = F = FA, Fs, Fc, Ft, Fb = G = H = g~ = LSBEM = LSFEM = M n = M t M r =

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