Theoretical stress concentration factors for short shouldered plates subjected to uniform tension

Abstract

The values of the theoretical stress concentration factors for a variety of geometries and loads are available in a number of well-known publications. It is shown in this work that the reported existing results neglect the length of the members in the direction of the applied loads, and it is also shown that shorter lengths may have very significant effects on the magnitudes of the stress concentration factors. The finite element determined in-plane theoretical stress concentration factors for uniform thickness short shouldered plates subjected to uniform tension at the wide end and held longitudinally at the narrow end, for practical ranges of the fillet radius values, are reported and are presented in the standard graphical form. For completeness, other types of boundary condition have also been examined in this work. The value of the transition length between long and short plates is reported as well.