--- title: Fatigue & Fracture Mechanics Research | Fidelis Aerospace description: Applied research in fatigue, fracture mechanics, computational life prediction, additive manufacturing defects, multiscale modeling, and advanced methods for spaceflight hardware. --- - Log In [![Fidelis Aerospace - Structural Integrity Engineering](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Branding/Fidelis%20Aerospace%20Logo%20-%20Structural%20Integrity%20Engineering.png?width=275&height=50&name=Fidelis%20Aerospace%20Logo%20-%20Structural%20Integrity%20Engineering.png "Fidelis Aerospace - Structural Integrity Engineering")](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com?hsLang=en) - [Home](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com) - [Services](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services) Show submenu for Services - [Fatigue Analysis](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services/fatigue-analysis) - [Fracture Mechanics](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services/fracture-mechanics) - [Consulting](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/consulting) Show submenu for Consulting - [Independent Review](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/consulting/independent-technical-review) - [Research](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/research) - [About](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/about) - [Contact](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/contact) - [Home](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com) - [Services](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services) Show submenu for Services - [Fatigue Analysis](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services/fatigue-analysis) - [Fracture Mechanics](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/services/fracture-mechanics) - [Consulting](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/consulting) Show submenu for Consulting - [Independent Review](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/consulting/independent-technical-review) - [Research](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/research) - [About](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/about) - [Contact](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/contact) ## *Fatigue & Fracture Research* # Applied research to advance fatigue and fracture engineering for spaceflight hardware Fidelis Aerospace conducts and supports applied research where better mechanics, models, computational methods, software, or evidence can improve fatigue-life prediction, fracture assessment, crack-growth analysis, and structural-life decisions for spaceflight hardware. Research is one distinct way Fidelis practices fatigue and fracture engineering. Unlike Services, which apply established methods to current hardware decisions, or Consulting & Advisory, which applies senior technical judgment to decisions and evidence, Research focuses on capability creation: developing, evaluating, or validating methods that can make difficult fatigue and fracture problems more accurate, efficient, explainable, or achievable. [Request a Technical Discussion](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/technical-discussion?hsLang=en) ## When research is the right path - Established fatigue or fracture methods do not adequately represent the material, manufacturing process, defect population, loading, scale, or failure mechanism governing the hardware. - A promising computational or analytical method exists but requires implementation, verification, validation, calibration, or demonstration before it can support engineering decisions. - A new material, manufacturing process, or structural technology lacks a sufficiently mature fatigue or fracture basis. - Conventional life-prediction methods are too computationally expensive, restrictive, or uncertain for the problem being addressed. - A research program needs a fatigue and fracture contributor who can connect mechanics, computation, material behavior, experiment, and eventual engineering use. - The objective is to create reusable capability—a method, model, workflow, data interpretation approach, or software prototype—rather than solve only one immediate calculation. ## Research capabilities and technical directions ### Fatigue and fracture method development Develop, implement, compare, and evaluate methods for fatigue-life prediction, crack initiation, fatigue crack growth, fracture, residual strength, flaw assessment, and structural-life prediction where established practice requires additional capability. Research may address improved accuracy, computational efficiency, loading generality, uncertainty treatment, automation, or integration of multiple physical scales and mechanisms. ### Computational fatigue and fracture mechanics Investigate and mature computational methods for fatigue damage, crack initiation, and crack propagation. Approaches may include advanced finite element methods and, where appropriate to the research question, extended finite element methods, phase-field fracture, cohesive methods, remeshing approaches, or other computational fracture formulations. Methods under development are identified as research rather than represented as validated production capabilities. ### Additive manufacturing fatigue and fracture Study how defects, porosity, lack of fusion, surface condition, residual stress, anisotropy, microstructure, process variability, and post-processing influence the fatigue and fracture behavior of additively manufactured spaceflight metals. Research may address relationships between manufacturing defects and structural life, defect-informed fatigue and fracture models, representative flaw definitions, computational life prediction, and methods for translating material and process information into engineering assessments. ### Multiscale and microstructure-informed life prediction Connect microstructure, local fields, defects, constitutive response, and structural-scale fatigue or fracture behavior when conventional continuum properties alone do not adequately explain observed response. The objective is to develop practical methods that preserve relevant lower-scale physics while remaining useful for engineering-scale structural-life prediction. ### Accelerated computational life prediction Develop methods that reduce the computational cost of fatigue and crack-growth simulation while retaining the accuracy needed for engineering use. Research may include cycle-jump methods, adaptive stepping, reduced-order approaches, error control, multiscale acceleration, and other methods for efficiently simulating long-duration cyclic behavior. ### Verification, validation, and test-analysis correlation Develop benchmark problems, verification cases, sensitivity studies, validation approaches, and analysis-test correlation strategies that establish what a fatigue or fracture method can predict, where it is reliable, and where its limitations remain. ### Research software and engineering method prototypes Develop computational prototypes, automation, data-processing workflows, and engineering tools that make new fatigue or fracture methods testable, repeatable, and suitable for evaluation. Research software may serve as a bridge between mathematical method development and eventual engineering implementation without implying that exploratory software is already a validated commercial product. ## How Fidelis can participate ### Sponsored or contract research Execute a defined fatigue, fracture, or structural-life research work package for a client, technology developer, research organization, or larger program. Work may include literature synthesis, mathematical formulation, computational method development, implementation, verification studies, numerical experiments, validation planning, technical documentation, and transition recommendations. ### Collaborative R&D Contribute fatigue and fracture mechanics expertise to multi-organization research efforts where other participants provide complementary materials, manufacturing, testing, sensing, computational, or system-level capability. ### Research program technical support Support internal R&D teams, technology developers, and research performers with fatigue mechanics, fracture mechanics, computational modeling, method verification, test planning, technical review, and interpretation of research results. ### Method maturation and transition Help move a promising fatigue or fracture research result toward engineering use by defining applicability, verification evidence, validation requirements, sensitivity, uncertainty, workflow, documentation, and the boundary between a research result and a decision-ready engineering method. ## Research remains anchored in fatigue and fracture mechanics Fidelis is not positioned as a general materials, manufacturing, software, or academic research organization. Research is pursued where it advances the ability to understand, predict, or manage fatigue, fracture, crack growth, flaws, and structural life in demanding hardware. Materials, manufacturing, computation, microstructure, testing, and data are brought into the work when they materially affect those problems. For the near term, the primary application focus is spaceflight hardware and the materials, processes, and operating environments associated with it. ## Information commonly needed - The research question and capability that the work is intended to create. - Why current fatigue, fracture, or life-prediction methods are insufficient. - Relevant hardware, material, manufacturing process, defect population, loading, environment, scale, and governing failure mechanism. - Existing literature, analytical methods, models, software, test data, material data, benchmarks, and prior evidence. - The intended level of method maturity, verification, validation, and eventual engineering use. - Expected research outputs, publication or data-rights constraints, schedule, funding context, and transition objectives. ## Potential outputs Research outputs may include: - Literature and state-of-practice reviews. - Mathematical or computational method definitions. - Verified research-code prototypes. - Benchmark and verification problems. - Computational fatigue or fracture models. - Parametric studies. - Sensitivity and uncertainty assessments. - Validation plans. - Analysis-test correlation. - Research datasets. - Documented computational workflows. - Technical reports. - Conference or journal manuscripts where appropriate. - Recommendations for transition into engineering practice. Outputs are scoped to the research objective, maturity level, and applicable data-rights requirements. ## From research question to engineering capability The purpose of applied research is not merely to demonstrate that a new method can produce a result. A useful engineering method must have a defined range of applicability, understood assumptions, verified implementation, supporting validation evidence, known limitations, and a practical workflow. Fidelis approaches research with eventual engineering use in mind. The objective is to create capability that can ultimately help engineers make fatigue and fracture decisions that were previously too uncertain, computationally expensive, or difficult to address using established methods. ### Working on a fatigue or fracture problem that established methods do not fully answer? Describe the research question, the limitation of current practice, the evidence available today, and what a successful new capability would make possible. Fidelis can help determine whether the problem fits an applied research, computational method-development, verification, validation, or collaborative R&D scope. [Request a Technical Discussion](https://www.fidelisaerospace.com/technical-discussion?hsLang=en) ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How is Fidelis research different from normal engineering analysis? Normal engineering analysis applies methods with a sufficiently established technical basis to support a current hardware decision. Research is appropriate when the method, model, implementation, evidence, or capability itself must first be developed, evaluated, verified, or validated before it can be relied upon in the same way. ### What research areas are the closest fit for Fidelis? The strongest fit is research related to fatigue, fracture mechanics, fatigue crack growth, structural-life prediction, computational fracture mechanics, additive-manufacturing defects, residual stress, multiscale behavior, and verification or validation of engineering methods. Adjacent materials, manufacturing, computational, or experimental research is a fit when it directly advances fatigue or fracture capability. ### Does Fidelis conduct additive manufacturing research? Yes, where additive manufacturing creates a fatigue or fracture problem that requires improved engineering understanding or methods. Relevant topics may include porosity, lack-of-fusion defects, surface condition, residual stress, anisotropy, microstructure, post-processing, defect populations, and their effects on fatigue life and fracture behavior. ### Does Fidelis develop computational fatigue and fracture methods? Yes. Research directions may include advanced crack-growth methods, computational fracture mechanics, cycle-jump and accelerated fatigue simulation, multiscale approaches, defect-informed models, and other methods intended to improve the accuracy, speed, or applicability of fatigue and fracture prediction. ### Can Fidelis collaborate with other research organizations? Yes. Fidelis can contribute fatigue and fracture mechanics expertise to collaborative research where other organizations provide complementary materials, manufacturing, testing, software, sensing, or system-level capabilities. ### Does this page mean every method listed is available today as a production engineering service? No. Research directions and methods under development are intentionally distinguished from established production capabilities. Exploratory computational methods should not be represented as validated engineering capability until their implementation, applicability, verification, validation, and limitations have been established sufficiently for the intended use. ### Can research transition into a Fidelis engineering capability or software tool? Potentially. One purpose of applied research is to create reusable engineering capability. A successful research method may eventually transition into an internal engineering workflow, specialized analysis capability, computational tool, or other application after sufficient verification and validation. 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