Overview
The following benchmark problems provide FRANC3D solutions for stress intensity factors. These models are used to verify numerical accuracy and demonstrate agreement with analytical solutions, experimental data, and published results. Benchmarking is essential for high-reliability structural applications where numerical precision and repeatability are critical.
Benchmark Models
| Model | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Sneddon penny-shape crack | Interior penny-shape crack in a rectilinear bar under tensile loading | Murakami, 1987 |
| Inclined interior crack | Internal, inclined (45 degrees), penny-shaped crack in a rectilinear bar under tensile loading | Murakami, 1987 |
| Raju-Newman surface crack | Half-penny surface crack in a finite plate under tensile loading | Raju and Newman (1979; 1986) |
| Edge crack in a plate | Edge-through crack in a finite plate under tensile loading | Murakami, 1987 |
| Center crack in a plate | Middle-through crack in a finite plate under tensile loading | Murakami, 1987 |
| Center crack in a plate with anisotropic material | Middle-through crack in a finite plate with anisotropic material under tensile loading | Banks-Sills et al (2005; 2007) |
| Corner crack from a hole in a plate | Quarter-circular crack from a hole in a finite plate under tensile loading | Newman and Raju, 1986 |
| Compact tension | Compact tension model under tensile loading | Bower, 2009 |
| Circumferential cracked rod | Circumferential cracked rod under tensile loading | Murakami, 1987 |
| Transverse crack in a pipe | Transverse crack in the inner wall of a pipe under tensile loading | Bergman, 1995 |
Benchmark and Tutorial Files
Benchmark and tutorial model files are available from the downloads folder. Inside the downloads/BenchMarks folder, each Benchmark model is contained in a .zip file corresponding to the section of the Benchmark document. There is also a single Benchmarks.zip file that contains all of the models; the Tutorials folder is organized the same way. The downloads/TestSuite folder contains scripts that run -batch analyses.
To run all Benchmark and Tutorial models, download Benchmarks.zip and Tutorials.zip and then go to the TestSuite folder. There is a readme.txt in the TestSuite folder; start by reading this file. Download the TestSuite.zip file and extract to a folder. Put the Benchmarks.zip and Tutorials.zip files in this folder, and then run the .bat script if using Windows or the .sh script if using Linux. You will need to edit the scripts for your site.
Quality Assurance
Approximately 400 test models (about 1TB of files), including benchmark, tutorial and customer models, are used for regression testing and quality assurance. Tests are run on Windows and Linux using ANSYS, ABAQUS and NASTRAN. Most tests are run using the -batch command; some tests use the Python module, and some GUI testing is done on all supported operating systems (we use VMs for most of the Linux systems).