The effect of a stiffener on a cracked plate under skew-symmetric loading

In this paper, the title problem is studied by using Reissner's transverse shear theory. The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the effect of a stiffener on the stress intensity factors in plates under twisting moments and/or transverse shear loads. The asymptotic stress state near the crack tip terminating at the stiffener is examined, and normalized Mode II and Mode III stress intensity factors are tabulated for various crack geometries. The results also include the effect of Poisson's ratio, stiffness constants and material orthotropy for specially orthotropic materials on the stress intensity factors.