Stress-intensity distributions for corner cracks emanating from open holes in plates of finite width

A series of frozen stress photoelastic tests is carried out in the present investigation. Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics is used to analyze the problem of a part-through corner crack at an open hole in a plate of finite width loaded in tension. The photoelastic modeling capability of three-dimensional subcritical crack growth problems is assessed. This is achieved by comparing monotonically grown flaw shapes in epoxy models with crack profiles relative to fatigue crack propagation tests in a different material. Photoelastic stress-intensity factor distributions are checked against numerical results obtained for quarter elliptical geometries. The dependence of stress intensity factors on flaw shape is also discussed.