Cracks & Stress Concentration

Why sharp corners break

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• Holes and cracks concentrate stress at their edges.
• Inglis: $K = 1 + 2\sqrt{a/\rho}$: sharp tips are dangerous.
• Rounding corners and drilling crack-stopper holes reduce the peak stress.

Steps

1. Stress piles up
2. Blunt the crack
3. Square windows
4. A sharp tip
5. Stopping a crack
6. A sharp crack