It is with great sadness we have to inform that Prof. Dominique Leguillon, a former co-chairman of TC16, a great friend and a brilliant scientist passed away on Dec 27, 2023. He will be missed by all of us and his memory will be kept in our association - may his soul rest in peace.

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During the past decade a number of approaches have emerged to allow the prediction of failure initiation at crack and V-notch tips. These methods have in common an intrinsic finite length parameter and are aimed at generalizing the concept of fracture to domains with V-notch corners of any given opening angle and to more general stress concentrations. Three of these approaches are known as the coupled FFM approach, the averaged strain energy approach and the theory of critical distances. This TC is formed to enhance the investigation of these topics, to strengthen the collaboration between researchers working on the three different approaches and develop test protocols in the framework of FFM, to become ISO standards in due course. 

1. Design and coordinate a round robin validation process to identify the effectiveness of the different FFM approaches to predict failure initiation, the limitation of the different approaches and future research activities to enhance these methods for future applications.

2. Organization of annual meetings to discuss and enhance FFM methods and organize international conferences on the topic every three years.

3. Enhancement the use of FFMs in industrial applications