Resolved Issues

ANSYS 14.0 nCode DesignLife

17 November 2011

CRITICAL Issues
ANSYS element type SHELL281 gives zero total strain results on the Top Shell surface from
ANSYS rst file when creep or plastic strain results are present. SHELL281 is an 8-noded
element that can be used for large rotation, and/or large strain nonlinear applications. It can
also be used for multi-layer applications for modelling composite shells. Results for stress
from Top Shell are correct and all results from Bottom Shell surface are correct. If using non-
linear strain results from SHELL281, uncompressed results from DesignLife will show zero
damage on Top Shell and a contour plot of the worst case fatigue results will show only
results from the bottom surface. (DESIGNLIFE-198)

Strains from non-linear analysis in NASTRAN op2 in OESNLXR type datablocks were being
incorrectly read as tensor strains when they were actually engineering strains. This meant
that the xy, yz, zx components in an FEI file were two times what they should be. Note that
this did not affect NASTRAN linear strains. Also, non-linear stresses and strains in OESNLXR
type datablocks from SOL 106 and SOL 129 read incorrectly in NASTRAN 2008 and later
(DTLIB-374)

Strains for all NASTRAN solid elements that use a PSOLID coordinate system different from
the default global (basic) were not correctly transformed by DesignLife to a global coordinate
system during translation and would result in incorrect fatigue calculations. For this issue to
occur, the NASTRAN PSOLID card had to use a value in the CORDM field other than zero.
Note that this is a very unusual scenario for typical isotropic, metallic materials. (DTLIB-376)

In the Virtual Strain Gauge translation, the exported strains are incorrect if the Angle Offset
was set to zero and you used a vector for the X-axis (either by selecting nodes or specifying a
vector) that was not perpendicular to the surface normal. The magnitude of the error
increased as the angle between the vector and the perpendicular increases. (VIRTUAL
STRAIN GAUGE-13)

Multiple run analysis using analysis groups with changing data types (from stress only to
stress and strain) does not perform engineering to tensor strain conversion correctly after first
run. For example, using stress and strain data as input to Stress Assessment engine in first
run which only uses the stress, and a second run using EN Analysis engine using both stress
and strain data will produce incorrect results in the second run. (DESIGNLIFE-182)

Spot Weld with Multiple Weld Diameters

DesignLife Spot Weld Analysis using 3 (or more) sheet welds can in certain circumstances
use the incorrect weld diameter for one (or more) of the sheets.

The specific case requires ALL of the following conditions:

o Multiple material groups which have manually defined and differing weld diameters
(Weld Diameter Method = Enter Value)

o At least one group contains combination of welds with differing number of sheets (for
example, 2 sheet and 3 sheet welds)

AN-RI 14.00.001 1
 o ProcessMiddleSheets=False on the spot weld analysis engine

The result may be incorrect fatigue damage for the lower sheet count (for example the 2
sheet in a 3 sheet, 2 sheet combination) using the wrong diameter.

The fatigue damage for this sheet may vary if using more than one processing thread, since it
may use the diameter from a different previously calculated weld.

Note that the problem does NOT occur when using the default weld diameter method (Weld
Diameter Method = Automatic) or if all the welds have the same diameter. This fix was also
released as a patch to 7.0 (DTLIB-477)

Non-linear Strain in NX Nastran

The engineering strain flag was incorrectly reported for nonlinear strains from the OESNLXR
block in NX Nastran op2 files. This resulted in component strains being twice the value they
should be. This has been previously communicated as a critical issue to customers. (DTLIB-
374)

Fahrenheit Temperature Units

Using Fahrenheit as temperature units in the MaterialsManager or DesignLife CAE Fatigue

glyph would incorrectly interpret the temperature values. In MaterialsManager, setting the
Units Preference TemperatureUnits = DegF was not operating correctly. In DesignLife CAE
Fatigue glyph, FE results, Analysis Group, TemperatureUnits = deg F would not correctly
convert temperature dependent materials properties that are defined in degrees Celsius in the
materials database. (DESIGNLIFE-183 and DESIGNLIFE-184)

Aerospectrum Repeats with Single Cases

The spectrum definition files (extension SPE) used by aerospectrum loading defines one or
more flights, each of which comprises one or more flight cases. If the number of cases for a
particular flight is only one, then the repeat count of the whole flight is ignored and assumed
to be one even if it is not. This may result in a lower than expected calculated damage. Also,
a time series output from the analysis engine will show incorrect data, since only one repeat
of the data is output. (DTLIB-491)

DesignLife
General

The DesignLife back-calculation method for independent mode duty cycle has been changed.
Previously, each event was analysed completely independently to the target life, resulting in a
different scale factor for each event, and no damage value being reported for the whole duty
cycle (i.e. against the ALL event).

This has been changed so that the damage of the whole duty cycle is considered in the back
calculation. This means that the resulting scale factor is the same for all events, the damage
reported for the whole duty cycle should be target damage (within the tolerance), and the
contribution of each event to the overall damage can be seen.

This also means that if the resulting scale factor is set for a forward calculation, the results
should be the same as for the back calculation. This was not the case previously.

This has affected the following analysis engines: SN, EN, SeamWeld, SpotWeld (DTLIB-281)

AN-RI 14.00.001 2
FEF output for spot welds can now have the ISHAPE flag controlled to allow it to be used in
differing post processors. The preference is
/Libraries/DTLib/DTPostProcessorExportFEF/NShape and can be set to 2 or 8 appropriately.
The default is 8 (DTLIB-335)

Problems with the maximum stress result have been resolved. The conditions that cause this
are as follows: duty cycle with at least 2 events, independent event processing, max-min
stress output enabled, back calculation, event results output. The max-min stress was
reported as zero for all but the last event – this occurred in both SN and SeamWeld (DTLIB-
377)

A translation problem has been resolved when SelectionGroupType=Material,

MaterialAssignmentGroup=Property and SolutionLocation=NodeOnElement with a model that
had solids and shells sharing nodes.

Some of the elements were being assigned the wrong type, i.e. being marked as solid when a
shell and vice versa. (DTLIB-403)

FKM mean stress correction can now be run together with a multiple mean S-N curve.
(DTLIB-378)

FKM method is no longer checking unnecessarily for static failure condition. It is still required
for the Goodman or Gerber methods, but not for FKM. (DTLIB-427)

LS-DYNA d3plot files containing results from tet10 mid-side nodes do not read into
DesignLife. (DESIGNLIFE-181)

The material name used by the analysis at a particular node or element is now output to
results as an additional column. This applies to all analysis engines. (DTLIB-340)

Metadata used to set exposed properties can now be in any of the input pipes. (CAE
FATIGUE GLYPH-311)

If a workspace is locked, double click on any of the analysis glyphs will now not display the
advanced edit, but do as other glyphs do and display the standard property dialog. Whether
this contains any properties depends on whether they are hidden or not, as for other glyphs.
(CAE FATIGUE GLYPH-324)

Viewing the graph of memory-generated materials used to fail – giving an "unable to create
material lines - Out of Memory" error message when the graph tab was selected, unless you
had opened the material manager beforehand. (CAE FATIGUE GLYPH-325)

Worked example16 can now be used on 64-bit platforms as the numpy Python module is no
longer required by the example code. (DOCUMENTATION GLYPHWORKS-185)

FE Display Glyph

The feature list that is used to display the hotspots did not work correctly if there were multiple
channels from a duty cycle - the results were picked up from the displayed results set and not
the hotspot channel itself. (FE DISPLAY-116)

FE Input Glyph

When displaying stress results the display could show the text “Beyond cutoff” for zero
stresses – this of course should only have been used for fatigue results. It is now shown
correctly as zero. (FE INPUT-123)

Copy to Clipboard no longer loses the plot border (FE INPUT-125)

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In ODB time step analysis it is now possible to load data from time step 0 – this is controlled
by a preference libs\feimportlib\UseABAQUSFrameZero. (FE INPUT-126)

The order in which FE files were added was not always brought through to the analysis glyph,
meaning that load case mapping may have been incorrect when using multiple FE models.
(FE INPUT-139)

CAE Fatigue Glyph

A new preference, TranslateInSeparateProcess, can be used to improve memory usage on

jobs run on Windows 32. (CAE FATIGUE-308)

When performing multiple runs including pre-processing runs, too much memory was
allocated, which could cause performance and/or memory issues. (CAE FATIGUE-309)

Viewing an E-N mean multi-curve data graph from within "edit material mapping" was
incorrectly showing life in cycles rather than reversals as is shown in materials manager.
(CAE FATIGUE-314)

Seam Weld Analysis

Performance issues with seam weld analysis and duty cycle input has been improved. (SEAM
WELD GLYPH-25)

Spot Weld Analysis

RBE3 element connections are now recognized with SOL400 MD Nastran. Previously the
software did not recognize ACM-type spot welds produced with this non-linear solver.
(DESIGNLIFE-159)

When doing a Spot Weld analysis with a BoM called from file (not pipe), the analysis ran
correctly but the WeldDiameter output column contained wrong results. (SPOT WELD-17)

When doing a spot weld analysis with duty cycle loading and using EventProcessing =
Combined Fast or Combined Full, without outputting the event results, then all the maximum
forces are zero. (DTLIB-372)

Vibration Analysis

Largest amplitude cycle in the sine sweep solver was calculated using an incorrect formula.
This was not critical and did not affect life calculations. (DTLIB-367)

FE Viewer/Display

Now exports correctly to PNG files at 300 dpi resolution. (STUDIO FE VIEWER-172)

The limit of 100 channels of results in duty cycle analysis has been removed. (FE DISPLAY-
115)

Some problems contouring node-on-element results have been resolved. (FE INPUT-134)

Hot Spot Detection Glyph

The hotspot detection glyph should now pass metadata through, for example, the input test
name which is typically used to name the file when outputting results. (HOT SPOT
DETECTION GLYPH-37)

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Materials Manager and High-Temperature Analysis

The manager now optionally stores the melting point of a material and this can then be used
in the analysis to flag if temperatures are too high (MATERIALS MANAGER-187)

Multiaxial Analysis Engine

Issues related to the exporting of time histories from the solver have been resolved. (DTLIB-
473, DTLIB-472)

Some technical issues with the tracking algorithm, resulting in non-smooth stress-strain
response, have been resolved. (DTLIB-455, DTLIB-460)

The CSV logger now writes numbers without quotes, so Excel interprets them as numbers
and not strings (DTLIB-466)

AN-RI 14.00.001 5