3 point bend test with a round groove tip

3 point bend test with a round groove tip – crack

- July 10, 2026 at 7:32 am
  
  mihalka1
  Subscriber
  
  Hello fellow users. I'm a student learning ansys mechanical. I'm doing a static 3-point bend test and I was wondering if there is a way to make a crack to form on the tip of the groove, which is round.
  I tried the SMART crack growth with a pre-meshed crack, but wasn't able to get a crack to form, even at 5x the calculated force needed at many different mesh sizes.
  I also wanted to insert the semi-elliptical crack, but I always get "Mesher failed to generate crack meshing."
  The material model is defined by Isoentropic Elasticity and Drucker-Prager + Softening with Fracture Energy.
  Any advice to get a crack started and going?
- July 13, 2026 at 12:16 pm
  
  Sourabh Upadhyay
  Subscriber
  
  Hi,
  Please meake sure to define a local coordinate system at the crack tip with X axis orientation in crack growth direction, Y axis orientation in normal to crack plane. Condsider the points mentioned in: 5.5.6. Crack Initiation and Propagation using SMART Crack Growth
  A tutorial on premeshed crack is present: (1) ANSYS Mechanical: Fatigue Crack Growth Analysis using SMART Crack Growth - YouTube
  Though a nonlinear material can be used for fracture parameter evaluation using any crack types but inclusion of SMART for crack propagation makes the analysis linear. Refer: 5.5.5.2. SMART Crack-Growth Assumptions and Limitations
  This course on AIC will be helpful for starting with Fracture simulation: Workshops on Advanced SMART Approaches in Fracture Mechanics | Innovation Space
  Many more example can be found in Ansys help.
  
  Regards,
  Sourabh Upadhyay
- July 14, 2026 at 7:18 am
  
  ErKo
  Ansys Employee
  
  HI
  Just to add to the above some benchmarks to look at:
  
  Appendix A. Fracture Analysis Benchmarks
  
  A.2. Disk-Shaped Compact Tension (CT) Specimen Subjected to Cyclic Tensile Loading
  
  All the best
  Erko

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3 point bend test with a round groove tip – crack

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