Global limit load solutions for plates with surface cracks under combined biaxial forces and cross-thickness bending

Lower bound limit load solutions for surface cracks in plates under combined end force, cross-thickness bending moment and tensile/compressive membrane stress parallel to the crack are derived based on the von Mises yield criterion. From these solutions, particular limit loads for plates with extended surface cracks and through-thickness cracks or uncracked plates under the same loading conditions are obtained. The limit load solutions for surface cracks in plates under combined tension and bending due to Lei and Fox can be reproduced from the solutions in this paper by setting the stress parallel to the crack plane to zero.