On the stress concentration at sharp re-entrant corners in plates

Abstract This paper considers the determination of realistic measures for the peak local stresses occurring at sharp re-entrant corners in plates under remote transverse loading, whereby ‘sharp’ is meant zero root radius of curvature. A review of the shortcomings of current related analytical treatments motivates the choice of an experimental approach. The simple experimental method adopted approximates stress concentration factors as the applied far-field stress at fracture in a brittle plate without a stress raiser divided by that for the same plate with a stress raiser. The method is implemented employing a model material, tested on some hole configurations having stress concentration factors known from classical analysis, then applied to a range of single-edge, re-entrant, corner geometries. The results for the first set of specimens demonstrate that the method has adequate reliability, while those for the second furnish working engineering estimates of the stress intensification at sharp re-entrant corners for use in design and failure analysis.