Tensile failure in blunt V-notched ductile members: A new formulation of the Equivalent Material Concept

First, the Equivalent Material Concept (EMC), originally proposed by the author in 2012, is newly formulated in a way the effects of the plastic region ahead of the notch tip prior to the formation of crack at the notch tip on tensile strength of the equivalent material are taken into consideration. The new EMC is linked to the mean stress (MS) brittle fracture criterion to predict the load-carrying capacity (LCC) of some V-notched specimens reported in the literature, made of very ductile steel and subjected to pure mode I loading. It is revealed that the experimentally obtained LCCs could be well predicted by means of the new EMC-MS criterion, without needing elastic-plastic analyses or the failure criteria in the context of the elastic-plastic fracture mechanics.