Formulae for Predicting Stress Concentration Factors in Flat Plates and Cylindrical Pressure Vessels with Holes: A Review

A review of formulae used for predicting Stress Concentration Factors (SCFs) in both flat plate and cylindrical pressure vessels with holes was conducted. The SCF solutions for a flat plate with a hole are affected by the plate length, thickness, the cross bore diameter, geometric dimensions of the discontinuities and the elastic constants. However, there was no available information on an optimal solution for a flat plate with a hole. On the other hand, the solutions for SCFs at the tee junction of a thin cylindrical shell depends on geometric parameters such as the ratio of diameter, thickness, and other physical characteristics at the junction such as sharp corners, chamfers and blades. Noticeably, there was no universally accepted solution for determining SCFs at these tee junctions. Besides, most of the reviewed solutions for the cross bored thick walled cylinders were only able to predict SCFs at the intersection between the cross bore and the main bore. Though other reviewed studies had proven that maximum SCF does not necessarily occur at the cross bore intersection, but slightly away from the cross bore intersection. Therefore, there is a need to develop formulae that can predict SCFs magnitudes at an optimal position along the cross bore.