FATIGUE EVALUATION

USING ANSYS NCODE

DESIGNLIFE
 OBJECTIVES

Short overview of fatigue

Introduction to nCode Design Life products
nCode Design Life basic procedure
Main Glyph items
Duty Cycle procedure example
New features for nCode 6.0
 FATIGUE ANALYSIS

To make it simple, fatigue is a special structural failure,

failure due
to crack growth caused by repeated loading cycles.
cycles
Usually loads that result in fatigue failure cause stress levels
that are below the yield stress limit of the material.
In other words, a specific load magnitude may not cause failure in a
single application,
application but it may result in fatigue failure after several
cycles.
cycles
 FATIGUE ANALYSIS

Why perform a fatigue analysis? Cant the resistance to

fatigue be estimated from a stress analysis?
Sometimes it can!
Other design factors may contribute to fatigue life.
Parts subjected to very simple loading conditions.
But, if the component is subjected to complex loads that
vary with time,
time a simple stress study can lead to incorrect
results. In this case, a fatigue analysis is recommended.
 INTRODUCTION TO NCODE DESIGN LIFE PRODUCTS

nCode Design Life is an advanced tool for fatigue evaluation,

developed by HBM.
Fully integrated with ANSYS WorkBench 11.0 SP1.
New version (for ANSYS 12.1) to be released this month.
 INTRODUCTION TO NCODE DESIGN LIFE PRODUCTS

Different modules are available, with specific capabilities.

Package/Module Description
ANSYS nCode DesignLife Standard Base package including Stress-Life, Strain-
Life and Dang Van analyzers

ANSYS nCode DesignLife Modules/add-ons

ANSYS nCode DesignLife
Vibration
ANSYS nCode DesignLife
Accelerated Testing
ANSYS nCode DesignLife
Welds
ANSYS nCode DesignLife
Parallelization
Adds ability to do vibration fatigue
analysis. Simulate swept sine and PSD
loadings
Signal processing package complementary
to vibration option. Design accelerated virtual
and physical vibration tests.
Fatigue life prediction for seam welds and
spot welds.
DesignLife is multi-threaded and licensed
per core with one core included in the base
package.
 NCODE DESIGN LIFE x ANSYS FATIGUE TOOLS

What does nCode Design Life and ANSYS Fatigue tools have
in common?
They are both post
post--processors
processors, reading results from ANSYS.
Some basic features are available in both modules.

nCode Design Life provides some additional advanced

features, unavailable in ANSYS Fatigue Tools:
Several signal treatment tools,
tools for load time histories;
More material models (like Dang Van multiaxial method);
More complex fatigue calculations (like vibration analysis and
accumulated damage evaluation);
Easier to capture fatigue design intent (with workflow templates
and reference files);
More detailed post
post--processing (like hot-spot identification).
 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

nCode Design Life reads the stress results from the ANSYS
simulation.
Loading histories can be defined directly in Design Life.
 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

nCode Design Life main screen

Reference Files
(*.RST, loading curves...)

Desktop
Glyph Library
 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

A Glyph is a tool that represents a specific stage or operation

from the fatigue calculation.
For example, there are glyphs for geometry import, material definition,
postprocessing
Each glyph has input and output connections.

Right-clicking a glyph provides advanced properties

configuration.
In Design Life, the user can define a fatigue calculation
procedure by assembling some glyphs, creating a workflow.
workflow
 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

Some Glyph libraries available in nCode Design Life.

 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

Considering a typical SN fatigue calculation, the following

glyphs are used:

FE Input : FEA results import and load case combination

SN Analysis : material definitions, loading conditions and fatigue solution

advanced properties

Hot Spot Detection : identification of critical points for damage plots

FE Display : result plots

Data Values Display : result tables

 NCODE DESIGN LIFE BASIC PROCEDURE

Glyphs are connected, sharing and transferring information.

This fatigue map can be saved as a Design Life workflow.
 FINITE ELEMENT INPUT

Direct recognition of ANSYS results files (*.RST);

Several cases can be combined in one single results file.
Results from the FEA model can be visualized in the Design
Life interface;
 FINITE ELEMENT INPUT

nCode DesignLife automatically recognizes groups,

groups based
on FEA file information.
Parts, materials, element types
User defined groups can be created, with on-screen
selection of nodes or elements.
 MATERIAL MODELS

nCode DesignLife allows the definition of several fatigue

material models, including:
SN curves (standard, mean multi-curves, R-ratio multi-curves, Haigh
multi-curves, Bastenaire and temperature multi-curves);
N curves (standard, mean multi-curves, R-ratio multi-curves and
temperature multi-curves);
Dang Van multiaxial safety factor;
Spot Weld analysis;
Seam Weld analysis;

nCode Design Life comes

with a demo material
database, with 100+
example materials, with
different curves!
 MATERIAL MODELS

Fatigue curves can be derived from mechanical properties.

properties
For example, curve based on ultimate tensile stress of the material.
The curves can also be manually specified.
specified
For example, a list of stress-cycle pairs to define a SN curve.
 LOADING CONDITIONS

Time Series
Time history is obtained from transient analysis.
Constant Amplitude
Creates a 2 point stress history, by scaling and linear superposition.
Time Step
Combination of static loadcases to generate stress/strain history.
Vibration
Determines the rain flow to be used for further analysis.
Duty Cycle
Evaluates the combined effect of repeating loading events, with
accumulated damage calculation.

These loading conditions can be derived from FEA results,

from static, transient, modal and harmonic analysis.
 ADVANCED OPTIONS

The fatigue solver provides some advanced setup options,

options
such as:
Result to be read from FEA (stress, strain, displacement );
Method for combination of stress/strain components (Absolute Max
Principal, Signed von Mises, Signed Shear, Critical Plane);
Mean stress correction (Goodman, Gerber, Morrow, SWT);
Elastic plastic correction (Hoffmann-Seeger, Neuber);
Duty cycle event processing (independent, combined);
Calculations on surface nodes only;
only
Groups to be processed;
Unit system of the imported file;
Check for static failure;
failure
 POST-PROCESSING FEATURES

The fatigue solver provides results like damage, life, biaxiality

ratio and dominant stress direction.
Results are available in contour plots and data tables.
tables
The hotspot glyph identifies the most critical regions.
regions
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

Study of a steel lever, subjected to 4 loading classes.

Each class is defined by two loads, shown on the next slide.
SN Fatigue study is performed, with accumulated damage
evaluation (via duty cycle).
Frictionless supports are defined on the holes and hub base.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE


 
  
 
 





 
   

    ! "#

#!$ # %  " 

$ % !  % "$

% #    " 

Tension Force, applied on the hole,

A
in the X-direction

Remote Force, aligned with holes

B
axis, at Z = 30mm, in the Y-direction
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

Two simulations are performed (max. and min. angles).

Each simulation includes 4 loadsteps (one for each class).

2 RST files are created.

They are renamed for
easier reference, as
MAX.RST and MIN.RST
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

Design Life is available on the WorkBench launcher.

A working directory is selected, where the RST files are.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

Workflow for the fatigue duty cycle calculation.

Critical Regions
Material Properties
Loading Definition
Contour Plots
Advanced Run Options
Reads FEA results
Combine files

Data Tables
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

RST files are dragged to the FE Input glyph.

Since a duty cycle analysis will be performed, those files are
combined in a single one.
Mesh and FEA results can be visualized in this glyph as well.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

A demo material will be used, with fatigue behavior derived

from mechanical properties (UTS = 400 MPa).
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

Loading history must be defined as a duty cycle.

Each class is a duty cycle event (time step load provider).
Number of cycles (repeats) is defined for each event.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

In each event, results can be selected from the global file,

defining the loading conditions of this event.

Class #1 is defined by the results from

loadstep 1, from both simulations
(MAX.RST and MIN.RST).


 
  
 
 





 
   

    ! "#

 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

It is important to check if the run options are properly defined,

in the Advanced Edit window.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

The solution is ready to run. Diagnostic messages can be

obtained during the calculation for debug purposes.
 DUTY CYCLE EXAMPLE

In the results post-processing, damage values can be studied.

The hotspot feature identifies the 10 most critical nodes, showing
their location over the geometry.
 NEW FEATURES FOR NCODE 6.0

Fully-integrated with ANSYS 12.1, available in May 2010

Main new features:
Virtual Strain Gage
Glyph for fatigue crack propagation
Better integration with optimization tools like DesignXplorer and
modeFrontier
Named Selections recognition from WorkBench
 THANK YOU

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT

NCODE DESIGN LIFE,
CONTACT OUR TEAM