Previous results obtained by research activities of the IWM and the BAM described the qualitative relations between the crack resistance J_R(#DELTA#a) and the triaxiality of the stress state in the vicinity of the crack tip. The investigations presented in this report may be useful to the elucidation of the quantitative relation between crack resistance and triaxiality. For this reason experimental as well as analytic-numerical investigations were carried out on classical fracture mechanics specimens as well as on panels with semi-elliptical surface cracks as component-like specimens. According to two autonomous methods, namely a J_R-controlled numerical simulation of stable crack growth in fracture mechanics specimens as well as in panels ...