State of the Art – 3D Crack Growth Simulation
The FRacture ANalysis Code 3D (FRANC3D) program is designed to simulate 3D crack growth in engineering structures where the component geometry, local loading conditions, and the evolutionary crack geometry can be arbitrarily complex. It is designed to be used as a companion to general purpose Finite Element (FE) solvers.
FRANC3D development started at Cornell University in the late 1980’s, evolving into a program that has been used worldwide in academia and industry for analyzing crack growth in complex 3D structures.
Unique Capabilities
- FRANC3D Computes the stress intensity factors associated with all three “modes” of fracture for the mid-side nodal points along the crack front
- FRANC3D is the only available code which computes M-Integral & J-Integral
- FRANC3D is the only available code that will compute stress intensity factors for generally anisotropic materials
- FRANC3D Is the only available code that computes Crack nucleation due to fretting right at the edge of the contact region and grows along the edge of contact, FRANC3D is the ONLY code can handle this type of problems
User Specific Flaw Insertion
only available code which computes M-Integral & J-Integral
Only Code for Isotropic, Anisotropic ,Orthotropic Material Fracture
only available code that computes Crack nucleation due to fretting
Realistic Life Assessment with error less than 0.5%
Real Crack Surface Geometry can be used as Flaw
FRANC3D has had a long development history starting in the late 1980’s at Cornell University. The FRANC3D/Classic software is still available from the Cornell Fracture Group, but it is no longer supported and will not run on many current platforms as it is restricted to 32bit and XWindows graphics. An all new version of FRANC3D was started in 2005 and commercial licensed copies have been shipping since 2010. The development history is shown here:
About FAC and FRANC3D
Specializing in software development for 3D fracture simulation.
Fracture Analysis Consultants, Inc. (FAC) was founded in 1988 as a spin-off from high-technology R&D at Cornell University. Our mission is to provide our customers with state-of-the-art software and consulting services in computational fracture mechanics.
The basis for this is FRANC3D, which provides 3D finite-element-based crack growth simulation capabilities for 3D, arbitrary, non-planar cracks in complex engineering components and structures. Download the FRANC3D brochure for a summary of the features and capabilities.
FRANC3D integrates linear and non-linear fracture mechanics with finite element methods, advanced geometry and mesh model representations, automatic mesh generation and modification, and effective computer visualization.
FAC provides client-specific fracture analysis, collaborative analysis, software support, training workshops, and software customizations.
FRANC3D is distributed in partnership with Process Optimization and other vendors. Contact Process Opt to request a trial version or for more details; in China, Japan, India and South Korea, please contact the appropriate vendor for your country.
Experienced Team
Team has extensive experience in computational fracture mechanics and finite element analysis
Unique Features of FRANC3D
FE Import – Use exciting Finite Element Models
FRANC3D works with commercial FE analysis codes (ANSYS, ABAQUS and NX-NASTRAN or MSC-NASTRAN)
Crack Insertion | Realistic Crack Geometry
Insert real crack geometry of any shape; user defined geometry, user defined mesh points, multiple cracks
Stress Intensity Computation | M-Integral Method (Interaction Integral)
Franc3D computes Stress Intensity Factor based on the M-Integral Method, which helps to compute GI, GII, GIII associated with KI, KII, KIII for 3 Modes of failure. Which guides on most accurate prediction of Crack Direction, Stability and Rate. In Addition, VCCT and Displacement method also available
Crack Growth – Time, Temperature, Cycle Dependent Crack Growth
FRANC3D can simulate Time and Combined Time & Cycle Dependent Crack Growth, considering the temperature dependent
Load Schedule |Realistic Load Considerations
FRANC3D can simulate complete load schedules with simple cyclic, nonproportional cyclic, transient, spectrum, Hold events, with time and temperature dependent loads.
Fatigue Life Calculations | Multi DOF based life calculations
Accurate fatigue life calculations based on the multi-DOF approach.
Fretting Cracks – Fretting crack nucleation and propagation
Computes Crack nucleation due to fretting right at the edge of the contact region and grows along the edge of contact
Realistic Material Properties |Isotropic, Orthotropic, Anisotropic
FRANC3D can simulate considering the isotropic, orthotropic, anisotropic materials
LCF and HCF Calculations | Static and Modal Analysis
Franc3D implemented crack growth simulation in components subjected to HCF/LCF loading in FRANC3D; in particular, simulating crack growth as a resonant frequency is crossed during a throttle excursion
Bi-material Crack Growth |Simulate Crack beyond material boundary
Crack growth crossing and embedded in bi-material interfaces
Crack Growth Influencing factors | Residual Stress
FRANC3D can simulate considering the effect of Residual Stress
User Defined Functions | Use your own growth models, cracks..etc
Using python script users can introduce his own growth models, crack geometry or any other factors
User Defined Functions | Use your own growth models, cracks..etc
Using python script users can introduce his own growth models, crack geometry or any other factors
FRANC3D BENCHMARK DETAILS
FRANC3D benchmark models are summarized in the slides below; see the Benchmarks document for more details.
