A review of the determination of energy release rates for strips in tension and bending. Part I – static solutions

It is shown that solutions for the energy release rate G may be obtained for a uniform strip by simply considering the change in length. The simplicity of the system enables a wide range of boundary conditions and material properties to be incorporated into the analysis and G may be computed for elastic and elastic-plastic materials. Inextensible flexible strips are considered first as they are useful for modelling peel tests and these results are developed to cover elastic and elastic-plastic behaviour. Elastic strips in tension are also considered and the analysis is developed to include transverse loading which induces bending. General considerations of path and loading history dependence are also included.