Patent ID: 7873501

Claim:
A crack growth evaluation apparatus with a processor that evaluates growth of a crack occurring in a continuum, comprising: a model generation unit running on the processor and generating an analysis model used in analyzing a stress and a distortion occurring in the continuum by a finite-element method and obtained by dividing the continuum into a plurality of finite elements; an analysis unit running on the processor and analyzing by the finite-element method a stress and a distortion occurring by a load cyclically applied to the continuum in each of the plurality of finite elements of the continuum for each cycle of the load using the analysis model; an evaluation unit running on the processor and evaluating damage caused by the distortion occurring in the continuum for each of the plurality of finite elements of the continuum for each cycle of the load cyclically applied to the continuum using the analysis model based on a result of an analysis by the analysis unit; a display unit running on the processor and displaying growth of a crack occurring in the continuum using the analysis model based on a result of an evaluation of the damage by the evaluation unit; and a change unit running on the processor and changing rigidity of each of the plurality of finite elements of the continuum based on the result of the evaluation of the damage using the analysis model, wherein the analysis unit analyzes the stress and the distortion occurring by a load in a next cycle to a current cycle on each of the plurality of finite elements of the continuum whose rigidity has changed by the load of the current cycle of cycles of the load.