5. Conclusions

The key points to remember are as follows:

• The study of an elastic crack (linear or not) can be done on a meshed crack as well as on a non-meshed crack. In both cases, the mesh must be sufficiently fine in the vicinity of the crack bottom to correctly capture the singularity of the stresses.

• Calculations are possible on a non-planar crack, but the user must ensure that it remains regular enough for the calculation hypotheses to be valid: you must not have a geometric singularity on the bottom or on your lips. Typically, the calculation is legal for an axisymmetric crack, but not for a corner.

In linear elasticity, several operators (CALC_G, POST_K1_K2_K3) and several methods (extrapolation, smoothing,…) are available. It is**indispensable* to compare the results of the different methods and operators to ensure the good quality of the model. It is also recommended to assess the sensitivity of the result to the choice of operator parameters (integration radii) and to the refinement of the mesh.