On the anti-plane state of stress near pointed or sharply radiused notches in strain limiting elastic materials: closed form solution and implications for fracture assessements

In this paper a comprehensive investigation is carried out with regard to the state of the stress and strain in the neighbourhood of notches in bodies subjected to an anti-plane state of shear stress, within the context of a strain limiting theory of elasticity. Taking advantage of a unified analytical framework, the strain-limiting theory of elasticity is used to determine the full stress and strain field close to a pointed or radiused notch with any notch opening angle. An extensive discussion is provided that highlights the main features of stress and strain distributions, and the implications of the new theory for fracture assessments. In particular, it is proved that the obtained stress and strain solution predicts finite strains at the notch tip and allows the intensity of the stress field to be written as a function of the elastic Notch Stress Intensity Factor K-3, as in the case of conventional linearized elasticity theory. This makes the strain limiting elasticity an excellent vehicle for justifying theoretically a K based-approach to the fracture of brittle elastic solids, within the context of a self consistent theory, unlike the classical linearized theory that predicts singularities for the strain at crack tips.