ANALYTICAL NUMERICAL SOLUTIONS FOR A SINGLE HOLE-EDGE CRACK IN A NARROW PLATE UNDER PURE BENDING/

The problem of a crack emanating from a hole in a plate has been widel y studied. However, almost all studies to date assume the loading to b e in the form of a uniform far-field tensile stress in the plane of th e plate. This study examines the case of a far-field uniform bending m oment acting on a finite plate/strip weakened by a crack emanating fro m the hole. Both on-center and off-center holes are considered. Stress intensity factors are determined for a variety of geometries. These c omputations are performed both analytically and numerically (finite el ement method). These computations are compared with each other and wit h experimental results obtained from cold-drawn 2024-T3 aluminum alloy plates. Statistical variations in the experimental results are estima ted by using replicated tests. On average, analytical values of the no n-dimensional stress intensity factors are 16% lower than the experime ntal values. There is also some deviation between the analytical and n umerical results, and the reasons for these deviations are discussed i n the paper.