Notch stress intensity factors applied to U and V-shaped radiused notches under in-plane shear loading

The present work provides an application of the mode II Generalised Notch Stress Intensity Factor (NSIFs) for U-shaped and V-shaped radiused notches, varying the notch radius as well as the notch opening angle. In the absence of an exact mode II stress field solution for this kind of notches, the Generalised NSIFs are determined using a solution recently developed for V-notches with end-holes. The approximate nature of this solution makes the Generalised NSIFs sensitive to the finiteness of the notch radius and un-constant along the notch bisector line. Moreover, when the notch radius tends to zero the mode II Generalised NSIF does not converge to the NSIF as defined for pointed V-notches and the discrepancies between the two parameters strongly depend on the notch shape. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.