Material Properties

Material Properties

When performing a fracture analysis with a pre-meshed crack, the simulation stops before calculating any fracture-related results and in the solve.out the following warning and error messages are issued: *** WARNING *** CP = 100.078 TIME= 10:16:56 Fracture parameter calculation issue: crack tip node is attached to element type that is not supported, Crack 1, crack tip node 428118, element type 14. Element will be ignored. *** ERROR *** CP = 103.062 TIME= 10:16:59 Crack front provided for crack # 1 does not have a contiguous set of nodes. If SOLID186 and SOLID187 are the only elements that comprise my mesh, and they are supported within fracture analysis, then why am I getting this error?

    • FAQFAQ
      Participant

      This error is due to the presence of weak springs in your model. Element type 14 refers to COMBIN14, which is the spring-damper element used for implementing weak springs. The solution is to turn weak springs off in Analysis Settings –> Solver Controls. If the solution fails to converge after weak springs are turned off, then you will need to take corrective action to properly constrain your model. Note that the weak springs annotation will not be shown on the graphical display due to the simulation failing before at least one substep is successfully solved.