STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS FOR CRACKS AT FASTENER HOLES

— Transmission and reflection photoelasticity has been used to determine the stress intensity factors for artificial cracks emanating from a hole in two-dimensional tensile plates. Three geometries were investigated, namely a free hole, a pin-loaded hole and a hole with an interference-fit pin. All these cases relate to situations commonly found in aircraft structures. The results have been compared where possible with analytical data and a good correlation was found for these cases.