Fracture & Crack Growth Simulation

BEASY Webinar: Using Femap for Fracture Mechanics Modelling

July 13th @ 9:00 (EDT, USA Time); 14:00 (UK Time); 15:00 (Paris Time).

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BEASY Webinar: Using a Galvanic Model to Inform Fracture Mechanics Analysis for an Aerospace Fastener

June 29th @ 9:00 (EDT, USA Time); 14:00 (UK Time); 15:00 (Paris Time).

This webinar is now over. If you have any questions or would like to view the webinar recording, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

BEASY's Fracture & Fatigue Crack Growth (FCG) software enables engineers to quickly develop high fidelity fracture mechanics models based on the actual structural component. This software is used by engineers, performing damage-tolerant design assessments, to determine accurate stress intensity factor (SIF) solutions and simulate 3D crack growth. 

BEASY’s Fatigue Crack Growth Simulation technology is easy to use and industry proven. Accurate fracture mechanics solutions are available for predicting:

• Stress Intensity Factors
• Crack Growth Rates
• Crack Growth Path
• Critical Crack Sizes
• Critical Crack Locations

BEASY's Crack Growth Simulation software is based on advanced fracture mechanics principles and represents a radically improved approach to computational fracture analysis. BEASY's fracture simulation methodology provides more accurate solutions for those needing to make critical life extension decisions or to determine if an asset can continue to operate safely under existing service loading conditions.

The software supports crack modelling in two dimensional and three dimensional structures. BEASY crack models are based on boundary element technology and fully integrates with Finite Element Models.

The software has a number of advanced features not available in other crack growth software and these can be used to perform crack growth simulation in residual stress fields, apply pressure directly to the crack face for leak-before-burst type analysis, and investigate crack closure using sophisticated crack surface contact algorithms.

One of the most powerful features of BEASY's Fatigue & Crack Growth software is the ability to perform automatic crack growth simulations under complex fatigue loads

General Applications and Benefits

Typical Applications include:

BEASY fatigue crack growth solutions provide important data for:

• Critical flaw assessment in aircraft, ships, pressure vessels, storage tanks, pipelines, and other structures
• Damage Tolerant Design (DTA)
• Fracture mechanics assessments for Structural Life Extension Programs (SLEP)
• Determining critical fracture data to support inspection and maintenance scheduling
• Virtual Fracture Testing
• Assessment of allowable defect sizes during manufacturing
• Investigation of Multiple Crack Interactions
• Performing forensic investigations of structural failures
• Fitness for Service (API 579/BS 7910) design requirements

Benefits

• BEASY uses a powerful boundary element solver to determine the stress field near the crack front. This information is then used with a J-integral formulation to predict the stress intensity factors representative of the particular crack morphology.
• BEASY's unique approach provides mixed mode stress intensity factor data (KI, KII, KIII) so that engineers are not restricted to simple Mode 1 tensile loading common in most other fracture mechanics software.
• BEASY can calculate SIFs under complex loading and accounts for not only the tensile fracture mode but also the shear and tearing modes as well.
• BEASY can be used to analyse non-planar and arbitrary crack shapes; a powerful feature for those working in the area of structural integrity analysis. 
• BEASY is based on Boundary Element Technology which has significant benefits when solving fracture mechanics applications. The technology can more accurately represent the high stress fields near the crack front and the surface only mesh simplifies the tasks associated with crack modelling and mesh generation as the crack grows.

Simulation Of Corrosion & Fracture Damage

The geometry change caused by corrosion mass loss and pitting can be used to perform stress analysis of the structure, to determine the stress concentration in the component. If a crack is assumed  to initiate from a corrosion pit then the  subsequent crack growth can be simulated .See image.

This crack growth takes into account the corrosion damage and will inherently include local stress concentration due to the damaged surface. In the crack growth simulation, the full crack path and direction is determined along with the fatigue life.

Read on

Request more information on: Crack Growth Simulation