On stress singularities in linear elasticity

Abstract The stress field in many exact solutions of problems in linear elasticity is found to have singularities which occur at corners and or at points where the boundary conditions change in type. The dependence of the singularities on the local geometry and on the types of boundary conditions is investigated in this paper. It is found that the type of boundary conditions determines the type of singularity but that the geometry largely influences the magnitude of the singularity.