Three-Dimensional Stress and Stress Intensity for Tensioned Flat Plates with Edge Cracks

The stress in the thickness direction is an important factor influencing the fracture behavior of structural members. A stress σy tensioned flat plate with edge cracks is widely used as an analysis model. The stresses σx and σy for the plate model can be acquired from Neuber’s solution. However, the solution is applicable only for a perfect plane stress or plane strain state. As a consequence of the thickness of the plate a three-dimensional (3-D) stress state will arise near the crack tip, resulting in a variation of the distri- bution of σx and σy stresses. A full analysis for the 3-D stress fields for a tensioned flat plate with edge cracks has been therefore carried out. The results show that the 3-D stress field near the crack tip is mainly determined by two factors: the thickness of the plate and the curvature radius at the crack tip. A further analysis has been carried out for the stress intensity near the crack tip. In this paper we give some equa- tions matching to the 3-D stress and stress intensity, which describe precisely the stress state near the crack tip, and which can be applied effectively in engineering analysis.