ON THE PLANE STRESS-DISTRIBUTION IN AN INFINITE PLATE WITH A RIM-STIFFENED ELLIPTICAL OPENING

Abstract

A solution is given for the decrease of stress concentration factor at an elliptical opening in a plate under uniform plane stress at infinity when a compact stiffening rim is applied to the opening. We begin with the known solution for a plain elliptical opening, on to which is superimposed a stress distribution satisfying the boundary conditions between rim and plate and vanishing at infinity, and the distributions of cross-section of the rim corresponding to these are derived. Particular solutions are obtained for hydrostatic tension and pure shear in two directions at infinity, and from these all other cases may be solved. For ratios of major to minor axis which are not too great, and for rims of moderate cross-section, the cross-sections corresponding to the given solutions vary little round the opening.