In order to determine fracture parameters of the body and fracture conditions, stress and strain fields in the crack zone should be precisely calculated, especially near the crack tip. These goals can be achieved by performing experiments which are very complicated and expensive. More efficient numerical finite element and boundary element methods yielding the reliable data faster than experiments are usually used for practical calculations. A great number of classical analytical, experimental and numerical investigations are restricted to solving two-dimensional problems by making different assumptions. The results may be uncertain when three-dimensional state is simplified to two-dimensional one. Therefore, it is very important to study the effect of this simplification, in other words, to investigate the influence of three-dimensionality. The dissertation research belongs to the area of numerical fracture mechanics.

In order to determine fracture parameters of the body and fracture conditions, stress and strain fields in the crack zone should be precisely calculated, especially near the crack tip. These goals can be achieved by performing experiments which are very complicated and expensive. More efficient numerical finite element and boundary element methods yielding the reliable data faster than experiments are usually used for practical calculations. A great number of classical analytical, experimental and numerical investigations are restricted to solving two-dimensional problems by making different assumptions. The results may be uncertain when three-dimensional state is simplified to two-dimensional one. Therefore, it is very important to study the effect of this simplification, in other words, to investigate the influence of three-dimensionality. The dissertation research belongs to the area of numerical fracture mechanics.