On the Application of the Energy Method to the Stress Concentration Problems of a Rectangular Plate with a Circular Hole

Abstract

Stress concentration problems of thin elastic plates are one of the classical problems in the theory of elasticity, and since E. Goursat's work on the complex variable representation of stress functions in plane elasticity problems, much work has been done all over the world, and Muskhelishvilii and others have established the unified theory on the two dimensional elasticity problems.Unfortunately, however, the exisiting theoretical solutions obtained along this line are quite limited for the practical purpose and the development of the more practical method of analysis is definitely anticipated. One of the authors believes that the energy methods will provide the alternative procedure powerful enough to treat the more practical problems although actually no attempt along this line has been made.In this paper, the first effort is made on the stress analysis of a perforated rectangular plate, the result of which is found consistent with the famous Howland's solution on the perforated plate strip problem and some test results.