Stress Intensity Factors for Cracks Emanating from a Notch under Shear-Mode Loading

The influence of the notch geometry on the stress intensity factor at the front of the emanating cracks is well known for the opening loading mode. The critical length of the crack corresponding to a vanishing of the influence of the notch stress concentration can be approximately expressed by the formula aI,c = 0.5ρ(d/ρ)1/3, where d and ρ are the depth and radius of the notch, respectively. The aim of the paper was to find out if this formula could be, at least nearly, applicable also to the case of shear mode loading. The related numerical calculations for mode II and III loading were performed using the ANSYS code for various combinations of notch depths and crack lengths in a cylindrical specimen with a circumferential U-notch. The results revealed that, for mode II loading, the critical length was much higher than that predicted by the formula for mode I loading. On the other hand, the critical lengths for mode I and mode III were found to be nearly equal.