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Equation 3 · Part 1 · Why Materials Fail: Fracture, Flaws and the Inspection Interval

Symbol sigma_infty

σ∞\sigma_\infty
σ∞\sigma_\infty

What this part means

sigmaia_infty is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

Its job in the formula

sigmaia_infty is a part of this expression. Its role is fixed by the surrounding article and by the operations shown in the formula.

The passage around this formula

The first half of the argument is purely elastic and predates Griffith. An elliptical hole in a stressed plate does not merely remove load-bearing material; it redistributes the stress that would have passed through that material into the region around the hole’s sharpest curvature. For an elliptical flaw of half-length a and tip radius of curvature ρ\rho in a plate under remote tension σ∞\sigma_\infty , the peak stress at the tip is approximately

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