The Evaluation of the Stress Intensity Factors for Cracks Subjected to Tension, Torsion, and Flexure by an Efficient Numerical Technique

A numerical technique for the efficient computation of singular states of stress is developed and applied to several plane strain elastic problems. The method which extracts the effect of the singularity from the field permits the use of relatively coarse nodal meshes with rapid solution times but maintains a high degree of accuracy. Using this technique, stress intensity factors are calculated for the torsion and flexure of solid and hollow cylinders and the internal pressurization of cylinders of varying thicknesses.