Stress Concentration Studies in Flat Plates with Rectangular Cut-Outs Using Finite Element Method

Presence of cut-outs of different shapes is inevitable and is many times considered to be a desirable feature for the design of light-weight components. However, the presence of such cut-outs induces highly localized stresses in their vicinity which cannot be resolved using analytical relations and elementary equations of the strength of materials. In the recent years, FEM has evolved as a crucial tool for handling such problems with reduced degree of complexity. The present investigation is aimed at studying the effect of various geometrical parameters and loading scenarios on the SCF induced in an infinite plate in presence of rectangular cut-out with filleted corners. In the first step, the model was subjected to uniaxial load and the obtained values of SCF exhibited good agreement with analytical values. The model was further subjected to systematically varied stress states and geometrical parameters in order to study their effect on the SCF.