Fatigue Analysis with ANSYS nCode DesignLife

Mark Robinson
ANSYS Technical Services
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Agenda
What is fatigue? Why assess fatigue? What is a CAE fatigue analysis? What is ANSYS nCode DesignLife?

Demonstration

Crack Initiation and Growth

Failure under repeated or otherwise varying load which never reaches a level sufficient to cause failure in a single application

Material response under loading

Stress

Plastic Failure Elastic

Strain

Crack Initiation and Growth

Failure under repeated or otherwise varying load which never reaches a level sufficient to cause failure in a single application
Surface cracks initiate at tiny dislocations in material microstructure creating persistent slip bands that propagate under alternating stress Slip bands can grow into shear-driven micro-cracks Micro-cracks can grow into tensile-driven fatigue cracks plastic stresses at crack tip

Basics of Fatigue Approach

static failure high cycle fatigue
low cycle fatigue

large global deformation and large plastic strain static strength cross section
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small local elastic strains

small local plastic strains

notch radius, surface finish, crack growth

notch radius, cyclic material properties

Basics of Fatigue Approach

Two fundamental fatigue damage assessment methods stress-life (SN) uses calculated elastic stresses and empirical stress vs. cycle fatigue curves to determine total stress cycles to failure only applicable to high cycle fatigue (> 1e5 cycles for ductile metals) basis of many design codes history of reliable results strain-life (EN) uses elastic-plastic strains and Strain Life Relation Equation to determine strain cycles to crack initiation applicable to low and high cycle fatigue developed more recently than SN method - less historical data

Why is fatigue simulation important

Informed choices to insure product integrity by designing for durability

Facilitates Product Integrity for an expected life Informed design decision about parameters used

Conservative designs: too expensive to produce Not conservative enough: exposure to high warranty costs Optimize with simulation not product revisions Redesign, if needed expedited with simulation Use a unique, comprehensive fatigue process Set up by expert, used by designers

Cost of fatigue failure can be high

...Between 80 - 90% of all
structural failures occur through a fatigue mechanism NBS report
Gear failure from fatigue

Estimated cost > $600B/year

The cost of failure is high:

German ICE train derailment due to cracked wheel

de Havilland Comet, 1954

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Legal Liability Maintenance costs Redesign Costs Repair Costs Damaged PR and Brand Loss of future business Loss of life

Top 3 Causes of Fatigue Failure

1. Design/manufacturing defect - Badly designed product or manufacturing/production 2. Material defect / variance - Material test properties not well understood 3. Usage outside the design envelope - Operational loads not well known - Customer abuse

CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

FEA results, stress / strain / temperature Assign material fatigue data FE model converts FE results generated from a distinct set of loads into stress/strain histories

solver

post-processing

inputs: pre-processing

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Mesh for displacement

Mesh for stress

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Common materials database accessed via Engineering Data - FEA properties (macroscopic behaviour) - nCode fatigue properties (microscopic behaviour)

AS_ROLLED
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MACHINED

CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Comprehensive materials database with install

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Comprehensive materials database with install

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Generate stress, strain histories from FE results

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Constant amplitude

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Time series: Linear static superposition

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Time Step: Results from FEA directly

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

Vibration

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

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CAE Fatigue Analysis: 5 Box approach

solver

post-processing

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nCode DesignLife capabilities

ANSYS nCode DesignLife has an extensive scope of fatigue capabilities

Stress-Life (single, multi-curve, Haigh diagrams)

Strain-Life (automated multi-axial corrections) Multi-axial safety factor (Dang Van) Seam welds and spot welds High temperature fatigue Vibration fatigue (shaker simulation) Multiple runs in a single analysis Complete duty cycles / flight spectrums Multi-processor enabled for fast results Use Python for proprietary or custom methods
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Finite Element results supported

Static (linear superposition) Transient (dynamic: time or frequency domain) Frequency Response Linear & Non-linear

ANSYS 14.5/ncode DesignLife 14.0SP1/nCode 8.0

Thermo-mechanical fatigue and creep Short fiber reinforced polymer

nCode DesignLife capabilities

ANSYS nCode DesignLife has an extensive scope of fatigue capabilities Mean stress correction: SN > FKM, Goodman, Gerber EN > Morrow, Manson-Halford, Smith Watson Topper General multi-axial cyclic loading: Critical plane analysis Dang Van multi-axial failure criteria Rainflow counting

Dynamic analysis assessment: Time domain, Frequency domain Full transient/Modal superposition PSD-rainflow Prediction Using Lalanne, Dirlik, Narrow Band, Steinberg (PSD Cycle Counter)
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nCode DesignLife capabilities

ANSYS nCode DesignLife has an extensive scope of fatigue capabilities Weld durability: Spot welds: LBF, Cross sectional forces and moments used to calculate structural stress around edge of the weld spot, Miners rule, worst location reported

Seam welds: Volvo/Chalmers, stresses calcualted from nodal forces at weld toe, root & throat, Generic weld damage curves, Interpolation between bending and membrane behaviour for fillet welds, Mean stress corrections, Thickness corrections, FEFatigue R5 (2002)

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Thermo-mechanical
ANSYS DesignLife 13.0 14.0

Iso-thermal fatigue
Constant temperature SN/EN

ANSYS DesignLife 14.0 SP1 additions

Iso-thermal fatigue

Constant temperature Chaboche Cycle-by-cycle SN/Chaboche Creep Engine Larson-Miller Chaboche creep Transient thermo-mechanical fatigue Chaboche transient fatigue model

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Short Fiber Fatigue Engine

Fiber share l l.a.l

l
T

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Fiber share ( l ), determined by resolution of orientation tensor to critical plane Local directional SN curve determined by interpolation based on l Rainflow counting and damage summation on critical plane Process is repeated at each element, section point, and critical plane angle

Fatigue Process with ANSYS nCode DesignLife

Engineering Data Simulation

Materials

ANSYS Workbench

Stresses

Loads

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Durability assessment embedded in the analysis workflow

Static analysis Linear/Non-linear

Dynamic analysis Time domain Linear/Non-linear

Dynamic analysis Frequency domain Linear

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Durability assessment embedded in the analysis workflow

Thermo-mechanical and creep fatigue

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Start to End Automation & Optimization

Easily repeatable fatigue analysis process

CAD Access

Repeatable fatigue analysis process

Parametrics

Design Exploration
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Summary
Estimated 80-90% of all structural failures have a fatigue mechanism difficult to detect progressive deterioration during fatigue process, so catastrophic failures can occur without warning Fatigue testing is complicated and expensive virtual durability assessment reduces reliance on physical testing ANSYS nCode DesignLife is a CAE durability software tool that performs fatigue analysis using FE results based on industry leading HBM nCode DesignLife integrated into Workbench for easy communication with Mechanical allows durability assessment early in the design process allows standardization and automation of durability analysis process
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THANK YOU

DEMO
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Demo: Isothermal fatigue analysis of bellows

Temperature field
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Pressure pulse

Demo: Isothermal fatigue analysis of bellows

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