The Energy Release Rate

During the late 1950s, Irwin proposed a model to approach the fracture phenomenon similar to
that of Griffith. Irwins approach was also based on energy considerations, but it was more
useful than Griffiths model for solving fracture mechanics problems. Irwin defined an energy
release rate, which is a measure of the energy available for the increment of crack extension.
Energy release rate is represented by the symbol G and it is given by the following expression:

We have to be clear about use that we have given to the term rate. For this particular situation, a
rate is not a derivative with respect to time: it is the rate of change of potential energy with the
crack area. It is important to notice that the energy release rate G is obtained from the derivative
of a potential so it may be also referred to as crack extension force or crack driving force. At this
point, it is convenient to define what we mean by potential energy of an elastic body and this is
defined by:

Here U is the strain energy stored by the body while F is the work done by external forces.
Consider the case of the application of a dead load on a structure. For this situation, the specimen
under the load condition is said to be load controlled and the work done by the application of the
dead load is given by:

Here P represents the applied static dead load while is the deformation caused by the
application of P. Now the total strain energy stored on this specimen is:

This equations derivation is obtained from the plot shown on the following figure:
Notice that the area enclosed between the loading curve and the specimens displacement has the
shape of a triangle. If we wanted to obtain an alternate expression to the one previously obtained
for strain energy we would have to define force P in terms of deformation or infinitesimal
displacement . The total potential energy contained on the specimen may be now defined in
terms of load P and deformation as it will be done on the following expression:

Therefore, it can be concluded that for the case of load control:

The energy release rate may be redefined such that it considers the plates dimensions and
characteristics:

) (

This expression defined the energy release rate for the case of a dead load where displacement is
not restricted by any condition. The last expression cannot explain both tension and bending
tests, which are performed under displacement control. This condition implies that deformation
does not takes place on the specimen because the external constraints set the displacement to
zero (0) and the work associated with the external forces reduced to zero (0) because the force
does not have any distance in which it acts. For this new condition: What is the energy release
rate? Is more energy available for crack formation? Are cracks less likely to form? Let us address
this issue:
Remember that and that . The work due to external forces is then:
()
From the load-displacement curve for this type of condition, the total strain energy is defined as:

Again, the plot for the elastic region of the displacement controlled specimen is consulted:

The total potential energy for a specimen under displacement control conditions is defined by the
following expression:

Therefore, for this case:
Energy release rate may now be defined in terms of the last equations:

It is convenient to define a compliance term on the following way:

By establishing this compliance, we can compare the energy release rates for the previously
defined cases:
1. For the load controlled specimen with constant load P and variable displacement :

(
()

2. For the displacement controlled specimen the load is variable while displacement
remains constant:

(
(

(
(

Remember that:
By replacing this expression into the previous equation, we obtain:

(
(

From these equations we can conclude that energy release rate has the same magnitude
for both load and displacement control. However, there is a difference on the sign that
each one of these expressions contain. Let us carefully analyze this. Energy release rate
was mainly defined as:

For the load control case: and (

The displacement control case is analyzed and it yields: and (

Finally, it is easy to conclude that: (

Since for both cases the same specimen is consider for analysis the only variation on this
specimen has to do with loading conditions. Projected area is the same for both cases:
()

()

The change on total potential energy is the same for both load and displacement control:
()

()

Let us carefully analyze these last expressions:
For load control, the change in potential energy is:
()

For displacement control, the change in potential energy is:
()

()

At first sight it seems as if both cases were different in terms of magnitude. However,
these cases differ by

, which is very small and it may be ignored. The equations

sign also represents a challenge. This is explained because on load control conditions
strain energy increases due to the specimens deformation while on displacement control,
the specimens constraints cause the strain energy to either decrease or remain constant.
Instability and the R Curve
For any specimen, crack growth takes place when energy release rate G takes on certain values.
However, crack growth may be stable or unstable depending on how G and the parameters that
depend on G vary with crack size. To best illustrate this behavior it is convenient to replace G by
R, which is the materials resistance to crack extension. When R is plotted against crack
extension, resistance curve is obtained. The corresponding plot of G vs crack extension is the
driving force curve.
For the sake of simplicity, let us consider the following plate:
This plate contains a crack of length

. If the force causing the stress is acting