Recommended Plan for Project FRACT: A Critical Evaluation of Fracture Related Analytical and Computational Techniques

This report outlines a plan for critical evaluation of fracture related analytical and computational techniques. The plan involves ten to twelve investigators who, by various techniques, 'solve' a succession of problems involving elastic and elasto-plastic behavior, followed by residual fields after load removal. Solutions would proceed by analytical, computational and experimental techniques, applied to closely defined problems. The problems represent a sequence of stress concentrations, from none to mild to sharp - as used in fracture testing. The sequence of problems is intended to identify the essential needs for modeling of such problems to produce accurate results. The plan is described in terms of procedure and phasing over a two-year period, and the problems are described in terms of their experimental set-up. Thin-plate, round, and thick-section configurations are included. The report was prepared by a Planning Committee of experts in the field, and a preliminary draft was reviewed by a larger Advisory Group. Comments received during this review process are incorporated into this report. (Author)