This book deals with some recent advances in conservation laws and energy release rates. Unlike their conventional applications in Fracture Mechanics for single crack problems, the contents of this book are mainly concemed with the conservation lawsand energy release rates insomerelatively complex problems, i. e., strongly interacting cracks, microcrack damage, and microcrack shielding problems in f ive kinds of materiaIs, respectively. The five kinds of materials involve four traditional structural materiaIs: brittIe solids, metallceramic bi materiaIs, anisotropic elastic solids, and...