 Fracture mechanics has generalized to that γ represents energy dissipated in fracture not just the energy associated with creation of new surfaces

Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) builds off the energy balance approach taken by Griffith but provides a more generalized approach for many crack problems.LEFM investigates the stress field near the crack tip and bases fracture criteria on stress field parameters.One important contribution of LEFM is the stress intensity factor, K, which is used to predict the stress at the crack tip.