Stress intensity factors for edge-cracked plates under arbitrary loading

Stress intensity factors for edge-cracked plates are commonly available for long plates with height-to-width ratios H/W > 1. In the present note, stre ss intensity factor solutions are reported for short plates in tension and bending. In order to allow the computation of stress intensity factors unde r arbitrary loadings, two possibilities are considered. For the treatment o f known stress distributions in the uncracked plate, the weight function is an appropriate tool. For arbitrarily prescribed tractions at the plate end s, a superposition method based on sectionally constant tractions is descri bed and illustrated by examples.