AbstractThe present paper attempts to evaluate the fracture mechanics parameters, the stress intensity factor (K) and Rice's energy integral (J) in plane strain conditions for three‐point bend specimens. Both the parameters have been evaluated by the FEM using higher order isoparametric elements (i.e. quadratic elements). The crack tip elastic singularity (1/√r) has been taken into account by the use of the special crack tip elements of degenerate triangular element type as well as the fine eight‐noded isoparametric plane elements. The stress distribution has been compared with the Westergaard solution in the vicinity of the crack. TheKandJvalues have also been‐compared with the theoretical