Peak stress multipliers for thin perforated plates with square arrays of circular holes

A quarter symmetric part of a perforated plate containing a 3x3 square array of circular holes was analysed by the finite element method (FEM) to obtain the peak stress multipliers (PSMs) under membrane and bending loads for different biaxiality ratios. The PSMs for the membrane part were compared with Bailey and Hicks [J. Mech. Engng. Sci. 2 (1960) 2] and Hulbert and Neidenfuhr [J. Engng. Ind. Trans. ASME 37 (1965) 3] and show good agreement with the latter. The PSMs for the bending part were compared with those of Meijers' finite element results [J. Pressure Vessel Technol. Trans. ASME 108 (1986) 423] and show a maximum variation of about 10%. Photoelastic experiments were carried out to verify the FEM results. The distributions of stress around the periphery of the hole as well as along the ligaments have also been obtained. Correlations have been established for PSMs under various conditions