The Mode III Elastic Stress Distribution in the Immediate Vicinity of an Inclusion

As part of a wide ranging research programme aimed at developing a fracture mechanics methodology for blunt notches, earlier work for a general two-dimensional blunt notch Mode III model has shown that the stress at a distance × ≪ ρ (notch root radius of curvature) ahead of the notch root only depends on x, ρ and the peak stress σ_p, irrespective of the notch shape and the loading characteristics. This uniqueness has been confirmed for various notch profiles and loading scenarios. In this paper we show that the uniqueness of the local stress distribution is peculiar to a notch and does not apply to an inclusion.