The elastic stress distribution near a circular cylindrical notch due to external dislocations

The author is involved in a wide ranging research programme aimed at extending sharp crack fracture mechanics to notches so that credit can be taken for their non-sharpness. A key feature of this programme is the representation of the elastic stress distribution in the vicinity of a blunt notch and a recent paper has analysed the model of a circular cylindrical notch in an infinite solid. It was shown, for a general loading, that with Mode III deformation, the local stress is uniquely defined by the radius of the notch and the peak stress sigma(p) but is independent of the loading characteristics, whereas with Mode I deformation, the local stress does depend on the loading characteristics. In this paper, we quantify the effect of external dislocations, so as to provide support for the conclusions reached in the earlier paper. (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.