Effect of material orthotropy on the notch stress intensity factors of sharp V-notched plates under tension

In this paper, an analytical and numerical study is carried out on the role played by the elastic properties of orthotropic materials on the Notch Stress Intensity Factors (NSIFs) of pointed V-notches on plates under tension. In the first part of the work, new analytical solutions are presented to approximate the NSIFs of shallow and deep symmetric notches in Double Edge Notched plates under Tension (DENT). Subsequently, a comprehensive numerical study is carried out on finite size notches considering different orthotropic materials, with the aim to make explicit the effect of material orthotropy on the NSIFs. Eventually, based on a best fitting procedure of the numerical results, accurate expressions for the NSIFs are provided, and their degree of accuracy is discussed against data from the literature and results from ad hoc numerical analyses.