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3. Analysis
Fatigue results can be added before or after a stress solution has been
performed. To create fatigue results, a fatigue tool must first be inserted into
the tree. This can be done through the solution toolbar or through context
menus. The details view of the fatigue tool is used to define the various
aspects of a fatigue analysis such as loading type, handling of mean stress
effects and more. As seen in Figure 2, a graphical representation of the
loading and mean stress effects is displayed when a fatigue tool is selected
by the user. This can be very useful to help a novice understand the fatigue
loading and possible effects of a mean stress.
3.1 Loading
Fatigue, by definition, is caused by changing the load on a component over
time. Thus, unlike static stress safety tools, which perform calculations for a
single stress state, fatigue damage occurs when the stress at a point changes
over time. There are essentially 4 classes of fatigue loading with the fatigue
tool currently supporting the first 3:
Constant amplitude, proportional loading
Non-constant amplitude, proportional loading
Constant Amplitude, non-proportional loading
Non-constant amplitude, non-proportional loading
Several sample load histories can be found in the Load Histories directory
under the Engineering Data folder. Setting the loading type to History
Data in the fatigue tool details
view specifies non-constant
amplitude loading. Several
analysis options are available for
non-constant amplitude loading.
Since rainflow counting is used,
using a quick counting technique
substantially reduces runtime and
memory. In quick counting,
alternating and mean stresses are
sorted into bins before partial
damage is calculated. Without quick counting, the data is not sorted into
bins until after partial damages are found. The accuracy of quick counting is
usually very good if a proper number of bins are used when counting. The
default setting for the number of bins can be set in the Control Panel.
Turning off quick counting is not recommended and in fact is not a
documented feature. To allow quick counting to be turned off, set the
variable AllowQuickCounting to 1 in the Variable Manager. Another
available option when conducting a variable amplitude fatigue analysis is the
ability to set the value used for infinite life. In constant amplitude loading, if
the alternating stress is lower than the lowest alternating stress on the fatigue
curve, the fatigue tool will use the life at the last point. This provides for an
added level of safety because many materials do not exhibit an endurance
limit. However, in non-constant amplitude loading, cycles with very small
alternating stresses may be present and may incorrectly predict too much
damage if the number of the small stress cycles is high enough. To help
control this, the user can set the infinite life value that will be used if the
alternating stress is beyond the limit of the SN curve. Setting a higher value
will make small stress cycles less damaging if they occur many times. The
rainflow and damage matrix results can be helpful in determining the effects
of small stress cycles in your loading history. The rainflow and damage
matrices shown in Figure 5 illustrate the possible effects of infinite life.
Both damage matrices came from the same loading (and thus same rainflow
matrix), but the first damage matrix was calculated with an infinite life if
1e6 cycles and the second was calculated with an infinite life of 1e9 cycles.
This type of fatigue loading can describe common fatigue loadings such as:
Alternating between 2 distinct load cases (like a bending load and
torsional load).
In general, the results under a solution combination (both static and fatigue)
will be based on a stress solution that is the linear combination of its selected
environments. However, when non-proportional fatigue loading is selected,
the stress solutions are not combined(superimposed) but treated as separate
loadings for the fatigue analysis.
Several things must be done to solve
this type of fatigue problem.
Exactly 2 environments must be
selected under the solution
combination folder and in addition
the loading type in the fatigue tool
must be selected as NonProportional (This loading type is applicable to only fatigue tools under a
solution combination). An example of how to set up and interpret a nonproportional constant amplitude fatigue analysis can be found in section 5,
Typical Use Cases.
multiple SN curves are defined, any mean stresses that may exist will be
ignored when querying the material data since an empirical theory was
chosen. Thus if you have multiple r-ratio SN curves and use the Goodman
theory, the SN curve at r=-1 will be used. In general it is not advisable to
use an empirical mean stress theory if multiple mean stress data exists.
Figure 7: The chosen mean stress theory is illustrated in the graphics window
over the model and how to interpret the results. Biaxiality indication is
defined as the principal stress smaller in magnitude divided by the larger
principal stress with the principal stress nearest zero ignored. A biaxiality of
zero corresponds to uniaxial stress, a value of 1 corresponds to pure shear,
and a value of 1 corresponds to a pure biaxial state. From the sample
biaxiality plot shown below, most of the model is under a pure shear or
uniaxial stress. This is expected since a simple torque has been applied at
the top of the model. When using the biaxiality plot along with the safety
factor plot above, it can be seen that the most damaged point occurs at a
point of nearly pure shear. Thus it would be desirable to use S-N data
collected through torsional loading if available. Of course collecting
experimental data under different loading conditions is cost prohibitive and
not often done. Note that for non-proportional fatigue loading, there are
multiple stress states and thus there is no single stress biaxiality at each
node. Thus if the fatigue tool has non-proportional loading, the user may
select either to view the average or standard deviation of stress biaxiality.
The average value may used a interpreted
as above and in combination with the
standard deviation, the user can get a
measure of how the stress state changes at
a given location. Thus a small standard
deviation indicates a condition where the
loading is near proportional while a larger
deviation indicates change in the direction
of the principal stress vectors. This
information can be used to give the user additional confidence in his results
or whether more in depth fatigue analysis need be performed to better
account for any non-proportionality.
1000lbs 200 strain gauge 200 strain gauge
Plot life, damage, and factor of safety contours over the model at a
design life of 1000. (The fatigue damage and FS if this loading history
was experienced 1000 times). Thus if the loading history
corresponded to the loading experienced by the part over a months
time, the damage and FS will be at a design life of 1000 months. Note
that although a life of only 88 loading blocks is calculated, the needed
scale factor (since FS@1000=.61) is only .61 to reach a life of 1000
blocks.
Change bin size to 50, rerun analysis, and compare fatigue results to
verify that the bin size of 32 was of adequate size to get desired
precision for alternating and mean stress bins.
5.3 Universal Joint Under Non-Proportional Loading
(fatigueNonProportionalExample.dsdb) In this case we want to simulate a
fatigue loading on a uConstant Torque + Zero Based Bending
Bending Load
joint with a constant
Torsional Load
120
torque load that has a
Load 1
Load 2
zero based bending
100
load. The applied
80
torque is a constant
60
1000 lb-ft and the
bending force
40
alternates between 0
20
and 1000 lb. Thus 2
loadings are required
0
to model this scenario.
Load 1 will contain the torque plus the bending load. For load 2, the
bending force is zero so only the torque is required.
Create an environment called torsion+bending that contains both the
force and the moment. Insert total deformation and SEQV stress.
Duplicate this environment, rename it to torsion and delete the
moment load.
Insert a solution combination folder and add the 2 environments to the
list.