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FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF A NOTCHED CANTILEVER BEAM USING ANSYS

WORKBENCH

Conference Paper · June 2013

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 Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Mathematical and Computational Applications
June 11-13, 2013. Manisa, Turkey, pp.111-118

FATIGUE ANALYSIS OF A NOTCHED CANTILEVER BEAM

USING ANSYS WORKBENCH

N. Sinan Köksal, Arif Kayapunar and Mehmet Çevik

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Celal Bayar University, 45140
Muradiye, Manisa, Turkey
sinan.koksal@cbu.edu.tr

Abstract- In automobiles, ships, aircraft wings and fuselages, turbines, nuclear reactors
and other machine components subjected to cyclic loading, fatigue is the major threat
and has come into question with the technological development. In this study, the
fatigue analysis of a notched cantilever beam is carried out using Ansys Workbench.
The loading is assumed to be zero based. The effects of notch size and fatigue load are
analyzed. The safe design life of the material and critical notch sizes are determined in
the analyses for loadings in the elastic region.

Key Words- Fatigue Analysis, Finite Element Method, Notch Size

1. INTRODUCTION

It is significant to estimate the material life depending on the operating

conditions. Design assumptions, material properties and loading conditions are effective
in determining the material life. 90% of damages occurring in structural elements are
caused by fatigue. In many cases, fatigue is the main failure mechanism, consisting of
initiation, propagation and final fracture. Especially in notched components, the
propagation phase occupies an important part of the component‟s total life. The
processes of casting, welding and machining might enhance the significance of
propagation phase by initiating small defects that behave as local stress concentrators.
These may be micro voids, non-metallic inclusions, roughness in surface, abrupt
changes in cross-section, quenching cracks or grinding cracks. Consequently, factors
such as high temperature, corrosion, excessive loading, residual stresses, stresses under
combined loadings, stress concentrations, surface quality and metallographic structure
are effective in crack formation [1-7].
In components subjected to cyclic loading, the number of cycles is more
effective than the magnitude of the load. The microstructure of the material exhibits
changes due to repeated loading. The damage may occur much below the static yield
strength.
Fatigue crack initiation has been studied in the past using notched small
specimens by evaluating local stress or strain at the notch tip considering the stress or
strain concentration, equivalent energy density method and low cycle fatigue curve [8].
In recent decades, the local stress–strain approaches have been widely accepted and
used to predict the fatigue life of a notched member [9-11]. The local stress–strain
approaches generally include a stress analysis and a fatigue analysis. The stress analysis
is to determine the local stress and strain by an approximate method such as the finite
112 N. S. Köksal, A. Kayapunar and M. Çevik

element method (FEM). The fatigue analysis is conducted by using a fatigue damage
criterion based on the stress and strain output from the stress analysis.
Fracture mechanics-based approaches can be used to explain the notch fatigue
behavior based on a valid physical argument. However, there is no extensively accepted
method for fatigue crack growth from a notch, especially considering both near
threshold short crack and long crack. Verification of the fracture mechanics-based
approach for different materials and notch geometries is limited [12].

2. FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

The material of the beam is selected as structural steel with elasticity modulus of
200 GPa, Poisson‟s ratio of 0.3 and yield strength of 250 MPa.
The prismatic cantilever beam has a length of 1000 mm, a width of 100 mm and
a height of 75 mm. The side view of the beam and the position of the notch are shown
in Figure 1. 

Figure 1. The side view of the beam and the position of the notch

In order to simulate the behavior of the beam under static and cyclic loading,
Ansys Workbench 14.0 finite element software package [13] is used. Ansys Workbench
has an integrated fatigue module which is able to further supplement advances that are
offered. This module allows stress life decisions and strain life decisions for various
loading types.
Solid elements with three degrees of freedom at each node and a free mesh are
used for modeling the beam. To determine the optimum mesh size for the FEM
solution, a convergence analysis is carried out for various mesh sizes. Table 1 shows the
convergence of the FEM results with respect to mesh size. According to the
convergence analysis, a mesh size of 5mm is accepted.

Table 1. Convergence analysis

Mesh size (mm)
15 10 5 2.5
5
No. of cycles (10 ) 10.021 9.278 1.654 1.596

In order to prove that the stress due to the load is far below the yield point of the
material, a static loading analysis is performed before the fatigue analysis. The suitable
range of fatigue loads is determined to be between 8 kN and 14 kN; plastic deformation
occurs above this range. Table 2 shows the maximum Von Mises stress values and the
maximum deflections at the free end of the beam for θ = 90° and different notch sizes
(H) under 10 kN static loading. The notch size can be used to predict failure at the
notch.
 Fatigue Analysis of A Notched Cantilever Beam 113

Table 2. Variation of the maximum stress and maximum deflection with respect to
notch size
Analytic
FEM solution
solution
Notch size No
2 mm 5 mm 10 mm 20 mm 25 mm
(H) notch
Max. stress
106.67 124.25 132.71 146.78 178.94 226.75
(MPa)
Max.
deflection 4.7407 4.7051 4.7149 4.7498 4.8990 5.0284
(mm)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The fatigue analysis is performed using Ansys Workbench fatigue module.

Stress life type analysis is used which is based on Stress-Cycle (S-N) curves [14]. Stress
life is related with component‟s total life and does not distinguish between initiation and
propagation. Since it is observed in the static analysis that notch sizes (H) of 20 mm and
below result in very slightly varying values while a notch of 25 mm has a predominant
effect, we used a notch size of H=25 mm in repeated load analyses.
To decide on stress life in fatigue analysis, various factors are considered:
loading type, mean stress effects, multiaxial stress correction and fatigue modification
factor. In our study zero-based constant amplitude, proportional loading with a load
ratio of 0 is assumed. Using our software the fatigue life is computed and the result is
shown in Figure 2. Fatigue life shows the available life for the given fatigue analysis
which represents the number of cycles until the part will fail due to fatigue. It is
observed that the minimum fatigue life of our beam is 90700 cycles for 10 kN and this
value is reached at the location where maximum stress occurs, as expected.

Figure 2. Fatigue life

114 N. S. Köksal, A. Kayapunar and M. Çevik

Figure 3 shows fatigue damage of the beam which is defined as the design life
divided by the available life, for 1*106 cycles of fatigue life, under 10kN of load. Values
greater than 1 indicate failure before the design life is reached. The maximum damage
occurs at the tip of the notch with a value of 11,025.

Figure 3. Fatigue damage

Figure 4 shows the fatigue factor of safety at 1*106 cycle design life. In this
case, values less than one indicate failure before the design life has been reached. The
minimum value again occurs at the tip of the notch as 0,60824, which is the critical
region.

Figure 4. Fatigue factor of safety at 1*106 cycle design life

 Fatigue Analysis of A Notched Cantilever Beam 115

In Figure 5, fatigue sensitivity chart is given which shows how the fatigue
results change as a function of the loading at the critical location on the model. We
wanted to see the sensitivity of the model‟s life if the load changed from 50% of the
current load up to 150% of the current load. It is observed from the figure that when the
load is increased up to 150%, the life decreases to 20500 cycles.

Figure 5. Fatigue sensitivity chart

In a stress life fatigue analysis, the term “equivalent alternating stress” is used to
express the stress used to query the fatigue S-N curve after accounting for fatigue
loading type, mean stress effects, multiaxial effects, and any other factors in the fatigue
analysis. Thus in a fatigue analysis, the equivalent alternating stress can be thought of as
the last calculated quantity before determining the fatigue life [14]. The usefulness of
this result is that in general it contains all of the fatigue related calculations independent
of any material properties. Therefore, we calculated the equivalent alternating stress
which is illustrated in Figure 6. As can be seen in the figure, the maximum value is
141,72 MPa which occurs at the tip of the notch.
116 N. S. Köksal, A. Kayapunar and M. Çevik

Figure 6. Equivalent alternating stress

Notch sizes of 2mm, 5mm, 10mm, 20mm, and 25mm are considered along with
case of no notch, assuming a notch angle of 90°. Figure 7 illustrates the variation of
fatigue life depending on notch size. It is observed from the graph that the fatigue life
decreases slightly up to a certain notch size (20mm) and decreases considerably after
that value.

Figure 7. Dependence of fatigue life on notch depth for θ = 90°

Finally, we analyzed the effects of notch depth and angle (θ) together. The result
is illustrated in Figure 8. It can be seen that fatigue life increases with decreasing notch
angle, considering 45° and 90°.
 Fatigue Analysis of A Notched Cantilever Beam 117

Figure 8. Load-cycle graph for notch angles of 90° and 45°

4. CONCLUSION

Fatigue life estimation of a notched structural steel beam is studied. The fatigue
analysis is performed using Ansys Workbench fatigue module. Stress life type analysis
is used which is based on Stress-Cycle curves. To decide on stress life, various factors
are considered: loading type, fatigue damage and sensitivity, fatigue factor of safety and
equivalent alternating stress. The maximum damage and the equivalent alternating
stress, and minimum factor of safety occurred at the tip of the notch.
Two notch angles (45° and 90°) and various notch depths are considered. Notch
sensitivity increased with increasing notch angle. On the other hand, the fatigue life
decreased slightly up to a certain notch size (20mm) and considerably after that value.

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