Alternative fracture criterion in terms of the energy-based theory of strength

Within the framework of the energy-based strength criterion, the transition from the stress space to the stress-intensity-factor space is performed in a such way so that the fracture criterion obtained contains all characteristics of the material crack resistance Kic (i = I,II,III}), as well as dimensions ri*} (θ) and r*(θ) of the local fracture zone at the crack-tip vicinity under different modes of the crack-face loading. We propose an alternative approximation of the fracture criterion, which is exact in terms of the model under consideration. The theoretical results are compared with some known experiments. An example of the calculation of a structural element with a macrocrack is given. © 2001 Plenum Publishing Corporation.