AE 8803 redesigns a classic engineering subject by helping students first understand how cracks grow, then use theory, experiments, and AI to predict failure.
Fracture mechanics is often taught after the messy reality of cracking has already been simplified into a clean problem. In practice, failure develops gradually, often invisibly, and with far more uncertainty.
What if students could first build physical intuition for how cracks form and grow before turning to equations.
That question is at the center of AE 8803: Fracture Mechanics: Theory, Experiments, Applications, a new graduate course introduced in Spring 2026 in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. Taught by Professor Christos Athanasiou, the course is changing how fracture mechanics is taught by redesigning a classic engineering subject for the future classroom.
Rather than treating fracture mechanics only as a sequence of equations, AE 8803 begins with the realities engineers face: cracks that can grow invisibly, composites that fail through mechanisms very different from metals, inspection schedules that must balance safety and cost, and risk decisions made under uncertainty. Those decisions can have significant consequences not only for structural reliability, but also for the economic cost and environmental performance of the structures under consideration.
By combining first principles, hands-on experiments, and emerging AI tools, Athanasiou’s course helps students learn fracture mechanics as a way of thinking: how to reason from physical evidence, and how to make better predictions before structures break.
Organized around three “spirals of learning,” the course emphasizes a layered approach to understanding this complex subject. Students begin with core fundamentals, build physical intuition through experimentation, and then apply modern computational tools to explore unresolved challenges in fracture mechanics.
“The goal is for students to leave the course not only knowing the equations of fracture, but knowing how to think with them,” Athanasiou said. “Fracture mechanics becomes a language: first learned through its alphabet, then tested against the physical world, and finally used to ask new questions about how materials and structures fail.”
While a material breaks, it tells a story. These photoelastic images from Professor Christos E. Athanasiou’s research and classroom teaching reveal how forces concentrate around a growing crack, turning invisible mechanics into a visible path toward failure.
Students learn about stress concentrations, stress intensity factors, and other classical ideas that shaped the field, developing a vocabulary to describe how materials behave and fail. The course then moves from the page to the laboratory, where students break metallic specimens and measure their fracture toughness.
They learn how a fracture test is designed, how a specimen is prepared, how load and displacement are measured, and how fracture properties are extracted from experimental data.
In the final part of the course, students move from classical theory and laboratory testing into the emerging role of AI in mechanics education. Using custom machine-learning and data-driven computational tools, they explore how failure changes across different materials, specimen geometries, and loading conditions. These tools allow students to test hypotheses, compare patterns across many cases, and identify trends that can be difficult to capture from first principles alone.
For students, the course’s value lies in learning how to translate mechanics into judgment. “AE 8803 delivered precisely the type of knowledge and skills that industry and operational organizations are seeking to develop as engineers and technical leaders,” said Isaac Babcock, an AE graduate student and U.S. Coast Guard officer.
“The course strengthened my ability to connect fundamental mechanics principles to engineering decision-making, risk assessment, and maintenance practices—capabilities that will have a direct impact on my future responsibilities within Coast Guard aviation,” said Babcock.
The course is open to graduate students across multiple disciplines, including aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, materials science and engineering, and civil and environmental engineering. This interdisciplinary approach reflects the wide-ranging importance of fracture mechanics in fields where safety, durability, and reliability are critical.
“Failure is not confined to one discipline. Whether you are designing aircraft, infrastructure, or new materials, understanding how and when something breaks is essential.”
Professor Christos Athanasiou
The course also incorporates perspectives from industry. Guest speakers provide examples of how fracture mechanics principles are applied in real-world settings, like aircraft maintenance, certification and structural inspection, reinforcing the connection between academic concepts and engineering practice.
Closely tied to ongoing research in structural behavior, AE 8803 offers students a pathway to further exploration. Those interested in the subject can pursue independent study or research opportunities that build on the questions introduced in the classroom.
“Fracture mechanics is not a finished field,” Athanasiou said. “New materials and new technologies continue to raise new questions. This course is about giving students the foundation to ask—and answer—those questions.”
In doing so, AE 8803 offers a model for how classical engineering subjects can evolve in an AI-enabled classroom while preserving rigorous physical reasoning.
The course will be offered again in Spring 2027.
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