A Note on the Energy Release Rate in Quasi-Static Elastic Crack Propagation

摘要

This paper considers analytical issues associated with the notion of the energy release rate in quasi-static elastic crack propagation. When a crack in a deformed elastic solid lengthens, the new free surface created requires energy for its formation. If the crack propagation process is slow enough to be treated as a quasi-static, continuum mechanical models permit the calculation of the rate at which energy is made available for the generation of new free surface in terms of the solution of the governing equilibrium problem corresponding to the deformation of the cracked solid under given loads.