CRACKED PLATES SUBJECTED TO OUT-OF-PLANE TEARING LOADS

Cracked plates subjected to out-of-plane tearing loads were investigat ed using both classical plate theory and Reissner/Mindlin plate theory . It was shown that the total strain energy release rate according to Reissner/Mindlin plate theory converges to that of classical plate the ory as the thickness to crack length ratio approaches zero. It was dem onstrated that it is not meaningful to separate mode II and mode III s train energy release rates using classical plate theory.