Haigh diagram

The alternating stress amplitude for a stress cycle is computed as half the stress
range in the cycle. The amount of damage caused by a stress cycle depends not only
on the alternating stress but also on the mean stress. For example, the two cycles
below have the same alternating stress but because they have different mean
stresses, they cause different amounts of damage.

The effect of mean stresses on the cycles to failure is illustrated by the following
diagram, called the Haigh diagram.

The mean stress is zero only when the load is fully reversible. The most
straightforward case is when an S-N curve with the same R-ratio as the loading is
provided. In this case, the S-N curve is directly used since no correction is needed. If
you define S-N curves with different R-ratios, the software accounts for the mean
stress by linear interpolation between the curves. If only one S-N curve with an R-ratio
that is different from the R-ratio of the loading is provided, a correction is needed.
Definitions
To discuss correction methods, let us define the following variables for a stress cycle:

Smax = maximum stress

Smin = minimum stress

S = stress range = Smax- Smin

Sa = alternating stress = (Smax - Smin)/2

Smean = mean stress = (Smax + Smin)/2

R = Stress ratio = Smin/Smax

A = amplitude ratio = Sa/Smean

The stress and amplitude ratios for some common loadings are listed:

Loading Stress and Amplitude

Type Ratios
Fully R = -1, A = infinity
reversed
Zero to R = 0, A = 1
maximum
Zero to R = infinity, A = -1
Minimum
Correction methods
In the following let:

Sca = the corrected alternating stress (based on zero mean.),

Sy = yield stress, and

Su = ultimate strength

The software offers the following methods to calculate S ca:

Method Equation
1. Goodman method- generally
suitable for brittle materials:

2. Gerber method - generally suitable

for ductile materials

3. Soderberg method - generally the

most conservative

For both variable and constant amplitude events, the software calculates the mean
stress in addition to the alternating stress for each cycle and then it evaluates the
corrected stress using the specified criteria.
The Rainflow cycle counting method extracts the composition of a variable amplitude
load history. The software implements the method as follows:

1. Extract peaks and troughs from the load history.

2. Make the amplitudes of the first and last data points the same by appending a
data point if necessary.

3. Detect the highest peak and reorder the data such that the highest peak
becomes the first and last points.

4. Start counting the peaks as follows:

a. Consider the first four peaks and troughs ( 1, 2, 3, and 4). A Rainflow
cycle is counted if the second segment is vertically shorter than the first
and the third segments (i.e. b is smaller than a and c).

b. If a cycle is counted, the program starts from the beginning of the record
ignoring peaks that have already been counted. If no peak is counted,
the program checks the next group of peaks (peaks 2, 3, 4, and 5) and
the process continues. At the end, each peak and each trough
corresponds to a Rainflow cycle.
c. Ignore and load cycles that are below the percentage specified in the
properties of the study.

d. Dividethe alternating and mean stress ranges into the number of bins
specified in the properties of the study. You can view the results by
viewing the Rainflow matrix chart.
 Application of the Rainflow Cycle Counting Method

Fast Counting

Fast counting is used when the fatigue study refers to one static study and has only
one variable-amplitude event. In this case, the program extracts bins directly from the
original record. It then evaluates the damage resulting from each bin at each node
and calculates the accumulative damage.

Full Analysis

When multiple variable-amplitude events are used, the program calculates the
stresses at each point in time for each variable-amplitude record at every node. At
each node, the program combines the stresses and extracts the Rainflow bins that are
then used to evaluate the damage.

Full analysis is also used when a variable amplitude record is associated with more
than one study with the different shifts or intervals.