On the Axisymmetrical Stress Concentration at an Eccentrically Reinforced Circular Hole in a Plate

SummaryThis paper is concerned with the effectiveness of reinforcing a hole in a plate on one surface only. The particular problem considered is that of a circular hole in a plate of infinite extent, subjected to axially symmetrical tension at infinity, when the reinforcement consists of an annular plate on one surface. Because of the interaction between bending and stretching, the problem is highly non-linear and it has only been possible to solve it for certain limiting cases. The stress concentration factor depends on a dimensionless parameter proportional to the tension at infinity. It is shown that the stress concentration factor is increased, because of the eccentricity of the reinforcement, if the parameter is small, but for values of the parameter greater than a certain minimum the stress concentration factor is decreased. The results also make it quite clear that there is no possibility of obtaining reasonably accurate results by linearisation of the equations.