All plant components and most laboratory specimens exhibit changes in stress intensity factor (K) as the
crack depth (a) increases from small dimensions. In most laboratory specimens, dWda is a small, positive
number. In many plant components, dWda is larger and in some cases becomes negative if K peaks and then
decreases. Above certain +dK/da values, the crack growth rate can rise dramatically (>100X in some cases).
There appears to be a threshold dWdt, which is a product of dWdax daldt (the growth rate). Thus, for materials
and conditions that yield higher growth rates, a lower +dWda value will produce an acceleration in growth rate.