What are the results of a computer simulation?
	This is what the model looks like after the program has grown the crack. The tips of the cracks have moved to where you see the blue patches. This is called a stress contour. A stress contour shows how much force the structure is feeling in different places by using different colors.
One example of a computer simulation program for cracking is a "FRacture ANalysis Code" called FRANC2D (#) which was written and developed at Cornell University (#) by the Cornell Fracture Group (#). There is also a 3d version called FRANC3D (#) which will analyze three-dimensional crack growth in structures. Civil engineers often use programs like FRANC to run simulations. What kinds of things have been analyzed with FRANC2D and FRANC3D? Just about everything that cracks. Here are some examples of things that have been analyzed:
the pavement of sidewalks and streets in 2d a helicopter gear in 3d (seen here) material for high-speed airplanes a leg bone arch dams gravity dams

As you can see, fracture mechanics can be applied to many different subjects, which makes it very inter-disciplinary. This means that many different fields can make use of fracture mechanics, including biomechanics, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, mechanical engineering, hydraulic engineering, and many more.

In the Simulation section you'll be performing a simulation using a web-version of FRANC2D!


Who are the people who have developed the concepts of fracture mechanics and the computer programs to use them?