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QF Solver 0.2.5a0 controlled known limitations and final scope

These are default release boundaries. They may be narrowed by evidence and may be expanded only through an Owner-reviewed scope/gate revision.

Final Owner scope revision — 2026-08-28

OWNER_SCOPE_REVISION = APPROVED and SCOPE_CHANGE = YES are recorded in 0_2_5_owner_scope_revision.md. The qualified release scope includes only the bounded PASS gates G01, G02, G03, G05, G08, G09 and G11, plus the aggregate governance closure G10/G12. The original G04 and G06 requirements remain preserved for traceability but are excluded from the qualified 0.2.5a0 claim:

  • G04 is EXPERIMENTAL / NOT_QUALIFIED; its arc-length evidence and blockers remain visible and are deferred.
  • G06 is CODE_COMPLETE / EXPERIMENTAL / QUALIFICATION_DEFERRED; finite- kinematic J2 and coupled external correlations remain unqualified.
  • G07 is NOT_IN_RELEASE_SCOPE.

This is an explicit scope change, not a silent lowering of requirements: CONTRACT_LOWERED = NO. No physical-validation, general finite-strain, general arc-length or triple-coupling claim is made.

  • J2 remains the existing isotropic-hardening small-strain model until an explicit finite-kinematic coupling model is approved and verified.
  • No general finite-strain plasticity, anisotropic/kinematic hardening, damage, fracture, creep, viscoplasticity or cyclic-material qualification is claimed.
  • TET4 and HEX8 are the MUST geometric-nonlinear element scope. TET10 and HEX20 remain SHOULD until their own evidence closes.
  • Linear buckling is an idealized bifurcation analysis, not an imperfection-aware collapse prediction.
  • Linear buckling is qualified only as a bounded first tangent-instability analysis: the Euler TET4 total-Lagrangian evidence uses four structured levels and the external Code_Aster probe uses a constrained five-TET4 block. TET10/HEX8/HEX20 external buckling, imperfection-sensitive collapse and post-buckling remain unqualified.
  • Arc-length includes a reduced scalar shallow-arch branch-following check, but remains bounded to the verified benchmark/problem class; no FEM snap-through, post-buckling, arbitrary branch switching or general snap-back behavior is implied. The global solver's signed target and max_steps turning window are opt-in research controls and do not change the default target-load path.
  • The finite-kinematic J2 arc-length path has bounded internal research evidence on homogeneous TET4, TET10, HEX8 and HEX20 paths up to signed load factor 0.5, using an opt-in adaptive radius. It remains a monotone target-load continuation contract; it does not qualify FEM snap-through, snap-back, post-buckling, arbitrary branch switching or external response correlation.
  • Frictionless contact is the mandatory contact scope. Friction remains optional and cannot be advertised unless G07 is promoted and closed.
  • The common contact path supports a bounded slave-node patch against a triangulated master surface, updated facet search, current-configuration normals and penalty enforcement. The patch expands to independent node-to-faceted-surface contributions; it is not a mortar or segment-to- segment formulation. G05 is closed only for this bounded contract: the finite-sliding, updated-normal and facet-transition paths are internally qualified, while Code_Aster provides bounded compatible normal-contact histories. This does not qualify general continuum surface-to-surface contact, unrestricted finite sliding or self-contact.
  • Self-contact, cohesive, thermal and advanced mortar contact are excluded.
  • Triple J2+geometry+contact coupling is SHOULD, not a release prerequisite.
  • External numerical correlation is not physical validation.
  • The regular two-cell Code_Aster J2 campaign is convention-matched and reports PASS_EXTERNAL_CORRELATION for TET4/TET10/HEX8/HEX20 when the explicit QF TET10 code_aster_5 nonlinear quadrature is selected. The legacy four-point Hammer rule remains the default for existing models and linear paths, so this bounded evidence does not by itself close G01/G10.
  • The release is not an HPC expansion and makes no new million-DOF nonlinear claim. PETSc/SLEPc remain optional backends.
  • Performance claims are limited to recorded hardware/software/mesh histories.
  • Full Newton is the qualified global method. Modified Newton remains outside production scope unless separately gated.
  • A capability whose qualification is open, deferred or excluded remains experimental/research regardless of whether code or tests for it exist.

Governance roadmap after 0.2.5

  • 0.2.5: finish the current release without enlarging its functional scope. The final gate matrix marks G04 and G06 NOT_IN_RELEASE_SCOPE under the approved scope revision; their qualification records remain open/deferred. G06 is CODE_COMPLETE / EXPERIMENTAL, and no finite-strain J2 or coupled finite-kinematic claim is made.
  • 0.2.6: focus on maturity, V&V, robustness, benchmarks and scalability/performance. Corrections are allowed only when a defect is demonstrated; no major new physics is planned.
  • 0.2.7: target an approved finite-strain J2 formulation, coherent stress/strain measures, constitutive tangent and state-transaction evidence, independent V&V, Code_Aster correlation and G06 requalification. Friction remains a separate possible work package and is not committed here.

Coverage provenance note

The apparent change from approximately 88.37 % to 63.64 % was a measurement-environment discrepancy, not a numerical regression. The valid candidate run used the unit/integration command with --cov=solveur, --cov-branch, the configured exclusions (not benchmark and not large and not evidence), and an explicit PYTHONPATH=src; it selected 1550 tests, measured 17867 source statements and reported 88.341 %. The invalid run imported solveur from the neighbouring QF_solver_public checkout because the source path was not explicit; it measured a different tree (565 files and 58861 statements) and reported 63.64 %. Future release evidence must record the resolved solveur.__file__ and the candidate source_sha.