On stress concentrations for isotropic/orthotropic plates and cylinders with a circular hole

Scale factors (SFs) are widely used in engineering applications to describe the stress concentration factor (SCF) of a finite width isotropic plate with a circular hole and under uniaxial loading. In this paper, these SFs were also found to be valid in an isotropic plate with biaxial loading and an isotropic cylinder with uniaxial loading or internal pressure, if a suitable hole to structure dimension ratio was chosen. The study was further expanded to consider orthotropic plates and cylinders with a center hole and under uniaxial loading. The applicable range of the SFs was given based on the orthotropic material parameters. The influence of the structural dimension on the SCF was also studied. An empirical calculation method for the stress concentrations for isotropic/orthotropic plates and cylinders with a circular hole was proposed and the results agreed well with the FEM simulations. This research work may provide structure engineers a simple and efficient way to estimate the hole effect on plate structures or pressure vessels made of isotropic or orthotropic materials.