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Photoelastic investigation of the stresses at the edge of a uniformly-loaded plug in a cylindrical hole

University of British Columbia

The general area of investigation was first suggested by the problem of designing a plug to block off a tunnel that was to be filled with water. The specific purpose of this project was to determine if the shear stress along the edge of a plug in a circular hole could be considered uniform when the hole on one side of the plug was subjected to hydrostatic pressure. Three mathematical solutions were attempted using the theory of elasticity, but none yielded a simple solution. The problem was then attacked experimentally by plane photoelasticity and 32 configurations of six plane models were examined. The results showed that the shear stress was not uniform, but rose to a high peak and then declined rapidly. Three-dimensional photoelastic techniques were also used and the results of five "stress-freezing" models confirmed this conclusion. Other significant conclusions concern the variation of stresses with plug thickness; the use of fillets to strengthen the plug; and the dissipation of shear stress with distance from the plug. Some discussion is also made of the optimum design for a plug.

Text

2011-09-22

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/37537

Mechanical Engineering

University of British Columbia

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