Technical Resources for FAC and Fracture Mechanics

Notes, Questions and Answers

  1. How can I get a trial version ?

    Contact our software distributors.
  2. In MSWindows, when I start franc3d.exe by double clicking the icon, it checks for the license and then terminates with a message: "application terminated in unusual way" ?

    Look for the foxrc folder (or franc3d.ini or .franc3d.rc files) in your $HOME folder and delete it.
  3. FRANC3D starts and checks out a license, but fails to check the license back in before running the analysis code or fails to check the license out again after the analysis code runs ?

    Try setting the FRANC3D_PATH environment variable as described in Section 3.1 of the Installation Guide.
  4. How is stress intensity factor (SIF) calculated ?

    By default FRANC3D uses the M-integral to compute SIFs, as described by Banks-Sills et al, 2007. The M-integral includes terms for thermal strain and crack face tractions. See the Reference for more details.
  5. MSC Nastran fails to run due to an error: PCHL is undefined

    FRANC3D has preference settings for NX and MSC Nastran. NX Nastran uses: NASTRAN PCHLN=1 on the first line to remove line numbers from the .pch file. MSC Nastran does not support this, so if you are using MSC Nastran, make sure the FRANC3D preference setting is correct.
  6. Can the license be released if a user leaves FRANC3D open and unused ?

    Set a TIMEOUT for RLM. Create a fracanalys.opt file with: TIMEOUT 3600
    for a one hour timeout, and place the file on your RLM server with the fracanalys.set and franc3d.lic files.

FRANC3D Distributors

Process Optimization is the primary vendor for FRANC3D. Contact Omar Ibrahim for more information. Regional vendors are listed below. For any country not listed, please contact Process Optimization.


External Resources and Partners

SBIR Program Success

The SBIR program was a major contributor to the success of the FRANC3D software.

AFRL

The US Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio was instrumental in FAC's initial efforts to create a new generation of FRANC3D.

NAVAIR

The US Navy has been a long-time supporter and user of the FRANC3D software; FAC has worked on two NAVAIR funded SBIR projects related to fretting fatigue.

SWRI

FAC and SWRI worked on a project funded by the US Air Force, which combined the DARWIN and FRANC3D software.

RLM

FRANC3D uses the RLM software for licensing. Users can read the RLM end-user documentation to learn more about installing and running RLM.

CFG

The CFG site contains links to the FRANC2D and FRANC3D/Classic/BEM software and other inforomation related to computational fracture mechanics.

SIEMENS

FAC has a partnership agreement with SIEMENS, which allows us to provide a more robust interface between FRANC3D and NX Nastran.