Fracture Analysis System: FRASTA

SRI’s Takao Kobayashi demonstrates the FRASTA system. Fracture Analysis System- FRASTA – 1980’s

SRI’s novel Fracture-Surface Topography Analysis (FRASTA) system is one of the world’s best tools for studying the cause and time history of structural and material fractures.

FRASTA’s breakthrough technology analyzes fracture surfaces to determine how and why a structural failure occurred. In fact, the failure event can often be replayed from start to finish. FRASTA can be used to diagnose and predict fatigue failure in pipelines, aircraft, bridges, power plants, and other structures using 3D fractography.

SRI continues to extend 3D fracture surface analysis and develop faster, more efficient, and higher-resolution methods to quantify and interpret fracture surface topography.

SRI’s FRASTA technology has been licensed to NASA and to Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Osaka Gas Company and Chubu Electric Power Company.


Read our 75th anniversary blog feature

75 Years of Innovation: FRASTA (Fracture Surface Topography Analysis)


Read more from SRI

  • Banner and attendees at the IEEE Hard Tech Venture Summit

    Cultivating hard tech startups that scale

    IEEE’s Hard Tech Venture Summit convened innovators at SRI to refine strategies and build new networks.

  • Patient going into a MRI

    Bringing surgical tools inside the MRI

    Drawing on SRI’s unique innovation ecosystem, the startup Medical Devices Corner is seeking to improve cancer surgery by advancing MRI-safe teleoperation.

  • Christopher Mims and Susan Patrick

    PARC Forum: How to AI

    The Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims and SRI Education’s Susan Patrick discuss how AI can strengthen human agency.