Plastic stress singularity near the tip of a V-notch

In this study, a new practical method is proposed to analyze the plastic stress singularity at a V-shaped notch tip. By dividing the domain around the notch tip into a number of wedge-shaped elements, the problem is reduced to determining the stress singularity in a wedge composed of multiple materials with different stiffness matrix. The results so obtained appear to be quite satisfactory. Based on the numerical results, the effects of the notch geometry and the hardening exponent on the singularity are discussed. In particular, an approximate expression is presented for the evaluation of the plastic stress singularity.