This paper discusses applicability of the enhanced reference stress method to estimate J-integral along the semi-elliptical surface crack front. It is found that angular variations of normalized Jintegral are strongly dependent on the geometry, loading mode and loading magnitude. As application of the reference stress approach to semi-elliptical surface cracks implies proportional increases in the normalized J-integral, the present results pose a question in applicability of the reference stress approach. However, investigation of the error in the estimated J-integral in the present work suggests that the enhanced reference stress approach, recently proposed by authors, provides an effective engineering tool fur estimating crack driving force along the semi-elliptical surface crack front.
