OpenFAFM Under Development

Formal Analytical Framework for Mechanics — a computation kernel for classical stress concentration, fracture mechanics, and fatigue life assessment within the Continuity Aero ecosystem.

What is OpenFAFM

OpenFAFM is a deterministic computation kernel that implements established analytical models for structural mechanics. It performs stress concentration analysis, fracture mechanics evaluation, and fatigue life assessment using exact rational arithmetic — no floating-point approximation, no numerical drift.

Built as a layered system, each engineering domain delegates its mathematical operations downward through a validated computation stack. The architecture ensures that no layer reimplements mathematics that already exists in a lower layer, maintaining traceability from physical problem to analytical result.

OpenFAFM is designed as a reference implementation of classical analytical methods. It is intended for educational, research, and computational workflow integration purposes.

Engineering Domains

Five validated domain layers, each building on the computation layers below.

Structural Analysis

Classical stress and strain formulations for solid mechanics. Tensor-based computation with frame-bound coordinate systems.

Fracture Mechanics

Linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM). Stress intensity factors for standard crack geometries and boundary conditions.

High-Cycle Fatigue

Fatigue life assessment using established S-N curve methodologies. Cycle counting and damage accumulation models.

Low-Cycle Fatigue

Strain-life approaches for low-cycle fatigue regimes. Coffin-Manson and related models with exact arithmetic.

Cyclic Plasticity

Constitutive models for cyclic material behaviour. Kinematic and isotropic hardening formulations.

Design Philosophy

Exact arithmetic. All numerics are rational fractions. No floating-point approximation at any layer.
Zero runtime dependencies. Python standard library only. No external packages required at runtime.
Deterministic output. Same input always produces the same result. No stochastic components.
Layered computation. Each domain calls only downward through the stack. No circular dependencies.
Validated before use. Every capability is independently tested before integration into higher layers.

Technology

Language	Python 3.13
Arithmetic	Exact rational (standard library)
Runtime Dependencies	Zero — stdlib only
Validation	Comprehensive test suite with cross-validation
Architecture	Layered kernel — downward delegation only

Intended Use

Educational Research Reference Implementation Computational Workflows

Licensing

Community — AGPL v3

Free for academic research, personal use, education, and open-source projects. Source code availability required for derivative works.

Commercial — CAAL v1.0

Required for commercial use. Continuity Aero Analytical License v1.0. Contact for licensing terms and pricing.

Important: OpenFAFM is analytical software under active development. It is not certified for regulatory, operational, or safety-critical applications. All models implement classical formulations for educational and research purposes. No warranty expressed or implied.