Thermoelastic data are combined with an Airy stress function to determine the individual stresses on and near the boundary of a circular hole which is located below a concentrated edge-load in a plate. Coefficients of the stress function are evaluated from the measured temperatures and the local traction-free conditions are satisfied by imposing s rr ¼ t rq ¼ 0 analytically on the edge of the hole. The latter has the advantage of reducing the number of coefficients in the stress function series. The method simultaneously smoothes the measured input data, satisfies the local boundary conditions and evaluates individual stresses on, and in the neighbourhood of, the edge of the hole. Attention is paid to how many coefficients to retain in the stress function series. Although the presence of high stress concentration factors, together with a hole-diameterto-plate-thickness ratio of only two, result in some threedimensional effects, these are relatively small and the agreement between the thermoelastic values, those from recorded strains and FEM-predicted surface stresses is good.

Thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) is a contemporary full‐field, non‐contacting method of experimental stress analysis. In a cyclically loaded structure which experiences adiabatic and reversible conditions, the measured local change in temperature is proportional to the change in stress. Under isotropy, the technique measures information on the sum of the principal stresses. As engineering analyses often necessitate knowing the individual components of stress, additional experimental methods or information are frequently required to ‘separate the stresses’. The ability to evaluate individual stresses reliably in a uniaxially loaded finite plate with a central circular hole from TSA‐recorded information without supplementary experimental data is demonstrated here. Measured temperature data are combined with an Airy stress function and some limited traction‐free conditions. The present inverse technique does not presuppose knowledge of the external geometry or boundary conditions, overcomes the traditional difficulties of unreliable edge data, and reduces the number of coefficients needed by satisfying the traction‐free conditions analytically on the edge of the hole. Particular attention is paid to determining a realistic value for the needed number of Airy coefficients.

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