A NEW APPROACH FOR THE DETERMINATION OF STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS FOR FINITE-WIDTH PLATE

A new approach-force balance method-is developed for the calculation of precise geometric correction functions regarding stress intensity factors. The proposed method is based on the consideration that the externally applied loading is equilibrated by the internal stress existing in the elastic material ahead of the crack tip in the crack-line direction. The obtained geometric correction factors in various cases are found to be in excellent agreement with the results reported in the literature. In particular, the application of the force balance method gives rise to a fairly simple geometric correction factor formula for the commonly-used center cracked tensile (CCT) specimen (i.e. Y = 1/square-root/(1 - (2a/W)2)).