Antiplane shear stresses in orthotropic plates with lateral blunt notches

This contribution investigates the stress fields in orthotropic plates featuring lateral notches under anti-plane shear loading. Four different notch geometries are considered and the relevant analytical expressions for the stress distribution are derived in closed form. For each geometry, the main features of the stress fields and the accuracy of the analytical expressions developed are discussed comparing theoretical results and numerical data from FE analyses carried out on finite plates under longitudinal shear.