AbstractThe aim of the present research is to check the capability of the equivalent material concept (EMC) combined with the J‐integral failure criterion, called EMC‐J criterion, in predicting the load‐carrying capacity (LCC) of U‐notched ductile aluminium plates subjected to tension by considering the 2 moderate and large‐scale yielding regimes. For this purpose, first, a set of experimental results on LCC of 2 groups of thin U‐notched rectangular plates made of Al 7075‐T6 and Al 6061‐T6 are gathered from the recent literature. Then, because the Al 7075‐T6 and Al 6061‐T6 plates have ductile behaviour, EMC is employed to avoid performing elastic‐plastic failure analysis for LCC predictions. Up to now, different failure models in the context of the linear‐elastic notch fracture mechanics have been successfully utilized in combination with EMC for ductile failure prediction of notched members. However, this is the first time in this research that J‐integral, as a well‐known brittle failure criterion, is linked to EMC for predicting LCC of the U‐notched rectangular aluminium plates. Finally, it is shown that EMC‐J criterion can predict well the experimental results of tensile LCC.