Stress singularities at the free surface of an axisymmetric two-material creep test specimen

Abstract

The nature of the stress singularity that occurs at the surface of an axisymmetric, two-material creep test specimen has been investigated. Steady state finite element analyses were obtained for this purpose, using Norton's power law creep equations having the same stress exponent for each material. The strength of the singularity was found to be strongly dependent upon the relative creep strengths of the two materials, but was surprisingly insensitive to the relative dimensions of the two materials. The implications of the results for practical situations are discussed.