Fictitious Notch Rounding approach of pointed V-notch under in-plane shear

The Fictitious Notch Rounding approach (FNR) is applied here for the first time to V-shaped notches under in-plane shear loading. The fictitious radius is evaluated for different opening angles as a function of the Microstructural Characteristic Length (MCL), the actual radius and the failure hypothesis. A multiaxiality factor is introduced and found to be very sensitive to the opening angle. Under mode II loading, the problem is more complex than under mode I and mode III, mainly because the maximum elastic stress is outside the notch bisector line. The main problem is the choice of the expected crack initiation angle, which defines the direction where the relevant stress has to be integrated. This integration carried out over the MCL gives the effective stress value for the pointed V-notch. To this end, two different criteria are used, the Maximum Tangential Stress (MTS) criterion and the Minimum Strain Energy Density criterion (MSED). A large number of finite element analyses have been carried out to determine the multiaxiality factor. This factor has been evaluated by comparing the theoretical stress concentration factor (SCF) obtained from fictitiously rounded notches to the effective stress concentration factor obtained by integrating the relevant stress over the Microstructural Characteristic Length. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.