The Cornell Fracture Group members include Prof. Tony Ingraffea, research associates, and graduate students. The mission of the Cornell Fracture Group is to create, to verify, and to validate computational simulation systems for fracture control in engineered systems. An equally important focus of the group is education at all levels. The current and past research has focused on both experimental testing and numerical simulation of fatigue and fracture in a variety of materials.
The CFG research concentrates on computer simulation and physical testing of complex fracturing processes in materials ranging from rock to aerospace alloys. Experimental results are used as input data for developing a family of powerful systems for simulating crack propagation, based on finite- and boundary-element engines, and employing unique topological data structures and computer-visualization techniques. These systems are being used by the aerospace industry at Boeing, GE, Northrop Grumman, and Pratt and Whitney, by the petroleum industry at Schlumberger, Dowell, and Exxon, and by government agencies such as the FAA and NASA Langley and NASA Glenn Research Centers.
Some of the CFG's most recent research projects include: "Prognosis of Long-Term Load-Bearing Capability in Aerospace Structures," "A 3D Experimental and Numerical Study of Microstructurally-small Fatigue Crack Growth in an Aluminum Alloy," and the almost completed "Constellation University Institute Project."
Over the next five years, the CFG will be working to increase the understanding of crack growth in a variety of materials in order to improve the accuracy of the models used in the simulators. They are pursuing a "digital materials" approach in which they will be replacing phenomenology at the component scale with best-physics-based approaches at multiple, smaller scales. At the same time, they will be increasing efficiency by making massively parallel computing via Windows clusters and web-serviced componentization an integral part of simulation on the desktop.
The Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society has selected associate professor Damian E. Helbling as the winner of the 2024 Tau Beta Pi Professor of the Year Award. This award is given each year to... Read more about Damian E. Helbling wins 2024 Tau Beta Pi Professor of the Year Award
For her research developing optimization algorithms, modeling and statistical analysis to address a wide range of environmental problems, Christine Shoemaker, the Joseph P. Ripley Professor of... Read more about Shoemaker awarded lifetime achievement awards from INFORMS, SIAM
Aiden Clarage Major: Civil Engineering Why did you choose Cornell? Cornell's project team program offered a network of hands-on learning and community unparalleled at any other school. Ithaca and... Read more about Spotlight on our Graduates - Aiden Clarage
