Calculation of surface energy associated with formation of multiple kinked cracks

An energy parameter termed M_c is proposed for calculation of the surface energy associated with formation of multiple kinked cracks in 2-D anisotropic elastic solids. The formulation is based on a path-independent contour integral. The surface energy can be exactly evaluated by M_c when the cracked solids are homogeneously-stressed (i.e., the material characteristic), and effectively approximated when the solids are nonhomogeneously-stressed (i.e., the structural characteristic). It is thus suggested that M_c be possibly used as a fracture parameter that quantitatively measures the degradation of material (e.g. in micromechanics) and/or structural integrity due to irreversible evolution of multiple kinked cracks.