Stress and strain concentration factors for flat plate with opposite side U-shaped notches under tension

摘要

Engineering components often exhibit unavoidable local stress concentrations due to steps, notches or other geometrical discontinuities. Such stress concentration sites under service loading may drastically reduce the operational lifetime of a structure. In order to preserve structural integrity, it is essential to understand the stress-strain responses on the failure critical areas (notches). In this paper, the elastic stresses and strains of finite thickness plate containing a U-shaped opposite side notches with varying notch configurations are systematically investigated. The plate is subjected to uniaxial tension. For the analysis of a plate, finite element analysis (FEA) is used. It is shown that even if the plate is in the elastic state, the stress and strain concentration factors are different. It is also shown that the effect of Poisson's ratio is significant on the strain concentration factor. The accuracy of finite element results is verified with analytical solutions available in the literature.