Crack growth resistance curves in strain-softening materials

A theoretical model has been developed for the crack growth resistance (KR) curves in strain-softening materials with power law softening stress (σ)-crack opening displacement (δ) relationships. Both exact and approximate solution methods have been used to calculate KR curves for a fibre cement composite in a double-cantilever-beam (DCB) geometry. There is good agreement between these two solutions. When the crack growth is normalized with...