Evaluation of the load-carrying capacity of notched ductile plates under mixed mode loading

The load-carrying capacity (LCC) of V-notched plates made of Al 6061-T6 is experimentally measured under mixed mode I/II loading conditions for various notch geometries. Large amount of plasticity is observed around the notch at crack initiation instance, demonstrating large-scale yielding failure regime. To avoid elastic-plastic failure analysis and theoretically predict the experimental failure loads by means of the linear-elastic notch fracture mechanics (LENFM), the Equivalent Material Concept (EMC), proposed originally by the first author, is utilized in conjunction with the V-notch maximum tangential stress (VMTS) and V-notch mean stress (VMS) failure models, which both are stress-based brittle fracture criteria. It is shown that while the EMC-VMS criterion is always more conservative than the EMC-VMTS criterion, both criteria provide very good predictions to the experimental results.