The in uence of cohesive zone modeling on the stress eld and energy release rates in a cracked elastic body

that varies with distance, r, from the crack tip as r 1 2 . In this paper, a traction free plane stress wedge with a discrete cohesive zone along the intended crack-path is studied. Of interest is the in uence of the cohesive zone on the crack tip stress eld. Further, the in uence of the cohesive zone on the strain energy release rate is also investigated. Two example problems are studied; a double cantilever beam and an in nitely wide plate with a through-the-thickness crack. The objective of this paper is to examine the conditions under which a cohesive zone model can be used to represent an intended crack-path without unduly altering the original problem being investigated.