Surface tension-induced stress concentration around an elliptical hole in an anisotropic half-plane

We examine the surface tension-induced stress concentration around an elliptical hole inside an anisotropic half-plane with traction-free surface. Using conformal mapping techniques, the corresponding complex potential in the half-plane is expressed in a series whose unknown coefficients are determined numerically. Our results indicate that the maximum hoop stress around the hole (which appears in the vicinity of the point of maximum curvature) increases rapidly with decreasing distance between the hole and the free surface. In particular, for an elliptical or even circular hole in an anisotropic half-plane we find that, with decreasing distance between the hole and the free surface, the hoop stress can switch from compressive to tensile at certain points on the hole's boundary and from tensile to compressive at others. This phenomenon is absent in the case of an elliptical or even circular hole in the corresponding case of an isotropic half-plane.