nCode eLearning

Introduction to
ICE-flow DesignLife
The Objectives

During this class, you will learn….

• Concepts of fatigue analysis
• To perform fatigue calculations with FE models
using DesignLife
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Fatigue Analysis
What is Fatigue?

Fatigue is:

• Weakness in metals etc. from

variations in stress
The New Little Oxford Dictionary

• The initiation and subsequent

growth of a crack, or growth
from a pre-existing defect, until
it reaches a critical size.

Fatigue cracks are caused by cyclic loading. The part can fail even
though stresses are not that high. Over time, fatigue cracks can start
and then grow big enough to cause sudden failure.
Two Ways a Component Can Fail….

Failure mode 1:
Stress

Alternating Stress
Failure when stress
exceeds tensile
strength in a single Crystal surface
pass.
Strain
Slip bands form
Apply cyclic load at
along planes of
low stress level
maximum shear
giving rise to
surface extrusions
Stress

and intrusions
Failure mode 2:
Failure occurs after a period of time
even though stress is low. The
component seems to get ‘tired’, hence
Time the name FATIGUE.
Fatigue Analysis Process

Loading
Environment

Fatigue Analysis
Geometry • Stress-Life
• Strain-Life Fatigue Life
• Crack Growth

Material
Properties
Cyclic Loading

Smax

Samp

Smean DS

Samp

Smin

Fatigue cycles are defined by the change of stress or strain, either:

• range DS
• amplitude Sa
A Stress-Strain Cycle
stress
e t  e e  ep
smax
ee 
smax E
E smax
 ep  e t 
E
Ds strain

ep ee

et
De
Creating a Fatigue Life Curve
• Break multiple specimens under constant amplitude loading.
• Plot the number of cycles to failure for each specimen versus
the cyclic stress or strain on a log-log plot (seen below as x).
• Calculate a curve fit of stress or strain amplitude (or range)
and number of cycles to failure.
Stress

Strain
 The Stress - Life Curve
Makes no attempt at modeling plasticity – so it’s not valid for low cycle fatigue
C
Stress amplitude, Sa

b
Typical values:
Number of cycles to failure, Nf
s f  1300 MPa
C  Nf S b
a b   0.1
 The Strain – Life Curve

Models material yielding and plasticity – so it’s valid for low cycle fatigue.

s f
elastic life line given by : e e  2N f  b
E
plastic life line given by : e p  e f 2N f 
c
100
ef
s f
total life line given by : et  2N f  b  ef 2N f  c
Strain Amplitude, ea

10-1 c E
= +
10-2
sf (high cycle region)
E
Typical values:
b

10-3 (low cycle region) E  207,000 MPa (for steels)

elastic life line
sf  1300 MPa
b   0.1
-4 plastic life line
10
ef  0.5
100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107
c   0.5
Reversals, 2Nf
Fatigue Loading

Stress
Constant
Amplitude
time

N cycles

S3
S1
Stress

Block S2
Loading
time

N1 cycles N2 cycles N3 cycles

Variable
Amplitude
Loading
Using Variable Amplitude Loads

• Material fatigue curves are created

with constant amplitude sinusoidal
loading.

• Real loading is often fairly random.

• Rainflow cycle counting is a method

of finding fatigue cycles in a varying
waveform.
 Rainflow Cycle Counting
500 500 500

400 400 400

300 300 300

200 200 200

100 100 100

time time time

Peak valley extraction Reorder to start from Imagine the signal is

absolute max filled with water
500
500

400
400
Range Mean No.
300
300
450

200
200 450 225 1
225

50
100
100
50 150 1
150
time 100 300 2
time
Drain water starting at Continue by draining next
lowest valley, measure total lowest, etc.
& mean depth drained
Rainflow Cycle Counting
• Count closed hysteresis loops
• Accounts for fatigue material response with material memory
• Accumulate cycles and create a 3D histogram showing range
vs. mean vs. number of cycles counted
 Palmgren-Miner Rule of Damage
Accumulation
100
S3

Stress Amplitude
10-1 S3
S1
Stress

S2 S1
10-2
time S2
-3
10
n1 n2 n3 Nf3 Nf1 Nf2
-4
10
103 104 105 106 107 108
ni
Partial dam age = Cycles to failure, Nf
Ni

Failure is predicted when the sum of all partial damage (DTOT) equals one.
m
1

n1 n n
D TOT  2  3 1
Nf1 Nf2 Nf3
1 N fi

Or if D<1, the part has not failed and cycling can continue.
1
Life 
D TOT
Summary: Fatigue Analysis

• Fatigue is a progressive failure under repetitive stress cycling.

• A material’s stress-life curve (SN) describes how stress and
fatigue life are related, and is not valid for low cycle fatigue.
• A material’s strain-life curve (EN) describes how strain and
fatigue life are related, and is valid for low cycle fatigue.
• Rainflow cycle counting is a method of counting cycles in a
variable amplitude time series.
• The Palmgren-Miner damage rule allows summation of
fatigue damage from different cycles to estimate total fatigue
life.
Exercise 1: Fatigue Analysis
The problem: a landing gear component experiences varying stresses
while landing. How long will the component last before fatigue failure?

Recorded stress history from 1 landing Material SN curve

Fatigue Analysis – Example
Analytical approach:
1. Count fatigue cycles using rainflow cycle counting.
2. Calculate fatigue damage for each cycle.
3. Calculate total fatigue damage using Palmgren-Miner Damage Rule.
4. Calculate fatigue life from fatigue damage.
Step 1: Counting Cycles

Rainflow cycle counting is used to find the fatigue cycles in the

stress history.
Three cycles are found.

Range
Cycle
Max Min (max-
3 #
min)
1 2
1 300 -100 400

2 300 -300 600

3 500 -300 800

 Step 2: Fatigue Damage Per Cycle

Each cycle consumes a

bit of fatigue life, or to
view it a different way,
causes some amount of
fatigue damage.

Range
Cycle Life Damage
Max Min (max-
# (cycles) (1/Life)
min)
2.4E5 2.6E8
1 300 -100 400 2.6E8 3.8E-9
4.4E6
2 300 -300 600 4.4E6 2.3E-7

3 500 -300 800 2.4E5 4.2E-6

 Step 3: Total Damage Summation

Palmgren-Miner Rule:
Total damage = sum of
damage from each cycle
m
1
D TOT 
1 N fi

Range
Cycle Life Damage
Max Min (max-
# (cycles) (1/Life)
min)
1 300 -100 400 2.6E8 3.8E-9

2 300 -300 600 4.4E6 2.3E-7

3 500 -300 800 2.4E5 4.2E-6

Total
4.4E-6
Damage
 Step 4: Fatigue Life

Failure if total damage >1

If not, fatigue life = 1/total damage
So, fatigue life = 1/4.4E-6 = 227,000
repeats
Range
Cycle Life
Max Min (max- Damage
# (cycles)
min)

1 300 -100 400 2.6E8 3.8E-9 Fatigue life = 227,000

landings until fatigue failure
2 300 -300 600 4.4E6 2.3E-7

3 500 -300 800 2.4E5 4.2E-6

Total
4.4E-6
Damage
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Using DesignLife
Part 1
An Example Process

Glyph Pipe

Available Glyph
Data Palette
The Available Data Window
• ICE-flow searches the
working folder and populates
the available data list.
• A wide range of data can be
used within ICE-flow such as:
– Time series
– Histograms (2D and 3D)
– Multi-column data (general
XY data)
– FE models Reload data
Types of Data

• Color coding is used as a form of error checking.

• Pads are color coded based on the type of data:
Time series data

Histogram data

Multi-column tabular data

Metadata, including FE models

Any type of data

Changing Glyph Properties

Every glyph has properties.

• Right click on a glyph and select Properties, or
• Double click in the glyph header bar.
• Re-run the process to use new properties in the analysis.
Saving a Process

• Processes can be saved for re-use later.

– All glyphs and properties are saved

• Saving a process
– Select File > Save Process …
– Can be shared
– Can add to Custom Processes

• The process is saved as a .flo file.

Running a Process
• Run process using the “VCR” buttons on tool bar

Run 1 glyph at a time Run the whole process

• The “In Process” light turns red as each glyph

processes data.

• The Diagnostics window shows execution progress.

Summary: Using DesignLife, Part 1

• Glyphs are engineering functions that can be used to

graphically create an analysis process.
• DesignLife is a set of glyphs specifically created for
doing finite element based fatigue calculations.
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Using DesignLife
Part 2
Fatigue Analysis Process

Loading
Environment

Fatigue Analysis
Geometry • Stress-Life
• Strain-Life Fatigue Life
• Crack Growth

Material
Properties
Questions About Fatigue Inputs
What service loads or vibrations were collected? How
Loading were they collected? Are they static or dynamic or
Environment both? What else causes stress? Will the FEA model
them all?

Does the model reflect all the service loads? What

are the constraints? How were stresses solved?
Geometry Static, dynamic, linear, non-linear? How refined is the
mesh? How confident are you in peak stresses?

Look past static properties like E and u. What material

Material is the part made of? What fatigue properties are
Properties available? Is the part really made of the same
material as the fatigue life curve you found in a
handbook?

Without high quality inputs and some thought, you will get the wrong answer.
A Simple Fatigue Process
DesignLife Fatigue Analysis
1. Generate stress or strain history.
2. Extract damage parameter.
3. Count rainflow cycles and notch correct with Neuber.
4. Accumulate damage per Miner’s rule.
5. Calculate fatigue life if damage < 1.
6. Repeat for every node or element.
FE Input Glyph
• Inputs FE models and results for analysis.
• Graphically display models and review stress
analysis results.
• Select parts for display by element type,
property set, material group or set.
• Create user groups for display or analysis.
Displaying Models and Stresses

Contour type reflects the nature of

the FE data (e.g. node-at-element)
Creating User Groups
• Use “pick” toolbar
icon to select
entities

• Use “group”
toolbar icon to
create group from
selected nodes,
elements or
displayed
property or
material sets
Fatigue Glyphs

• Each instance of a CAE glyph has an

associated configuration.
• Tooltips on pads/sockets give
associated object names.
• Pre-configured glyphs are based on
standard configuration files, with a
limited set of exposed properties.
• Right click for options, most commonly:
– Edit material mapping
– Edit load mapping
– Properties
• Sensible defaults exist for the pre-
configured glyphs, and load mapping
autoconfigures, so in most simple cases
you may only need to configure the
material map.
Material Mapping

Use this form to map fatigue properties to groups of entities.

FE groups

Materials
Load Mapping

Define fatigue loads to be applied to each FE load case.

– Constant amplitude
– Time step
– Time series
– Etc.

FE load
cases

Time
series
Summary: Using DesignLife, Part 2

• DesignLife reads stress results from an FE model via

the FE Input glyph.
• DesignLife requires user input for
– Material mapping: what’s the material’s fatigue life
curve?
– Load mapping: what causes stresses to vary?
• DesignLife counts stress or strain cycles with rainflow,
calculates fatigue damage per cycle, and uses
Miner’s rule to assess total damage (and hence
fatigue life).
Exercise 2: Getting Started with DesignLife

DesignLife Worked Example #1

Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Recovering Varying
Stresses
S-N and E-N methods…

FE Damage
Modeling
ELASTIC LIFE
LOADS
STRESSES

Notch rules etc Damage

Elastic-Plastic Modeling
ELASTIC-
FE PLASTIC
STRESSES &
STRAINS
Recovering Varying Stresses

Recall that fatigue occurs under varying stresses or strains.

The method used for recovering varying stresses from the

FE model depends on the FEA solution.

Options include….
• Constant amplitude
• Time series
• Duty cycle – more on this later
• Time step – transient dynamic
• Vibration – frequency domain
Constant Amplitude

Local Stress Histories

Sine Wave

L sA
L

Rainflow Counting

Fatigue Analysis
Stress scaled by sine wave
loading.
Time Series: Linear Static Superposition

Load Time Histories

- repeat for each
node/element
L1 L2

C1A* L1(t) + C2A* L2(t) + ... = sA(t)

L1=1 Local Stress Histories

L2=1
sA
Stress for Unit Load Cases
Time Step: Direct Transient

Local Stress Histories

Load Time Histories

L1 sA
L1

L2 L2 Rainflow Counting

Fatigue Analysis
Stress for combined loads
calculated by FE point by point.

For long time histories, issues with solution

time and disk space requirements
Vibration Fatigue: Frequency Domain
Stress Recovery Method Summary

Method Attributes Disk Space CPU Time Difficulties

Constant Quasi- Small Quick Static only

amplitude static
Linear
Linear static Quasi- Medium Medium Static only
superposition static
Linear
Transient Dynamic Large Slow CPU and disk
Non-linear usage

Vibration Dynamic Medium Medium Random

linear loading only
 Neuber’s Rule for Elastic-Plastic Corrections

 Elastic strain ee is calculated from FE.

 Neuber’s plasticity correction is applied to account for
material yielding: DsDe  EDee2
 Calculates non-linear material response from a linear model.
linear material non-linear material
Ds De  1 
Ds  D s  n '
Dee   
2 2  2 ' 
s.e DsDe  Dee 2

Dee De
Time History Compression

Time series analysis can be accelerated with either method:

1. Peak-valley: Use only the load reversals (peaks and
valleys) for stress recovery. At a reversal on any channel,
identify the simultaneous values on all other channels to
preserve phasing. Gating can be used to exclude smaller
cycles.
2. Limits: Use only the max and min of each load channel.
At the point of max and min on each channel, identify the
simultaneous values on all other channels to preserve
phasing.
Summary: Recoverying Varying Stresses

• DesignLife uses either the Stress-Life (SN) method or

the Strain-Life (EN) method for fatigue analysis.
• DesignLife uses FE results to create varying stresses
for each node or element in the model.
• The stress recovery method depends on the FE
solution: static, dynamic, random vibration, etc.
• Neuber’s Rule can be used as a plasticity correction.
• DesignLife includes several time history compression
techniques to reduce calculation time.
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Fatigue and Multiaxial

Stresses
The Stress Tensor

y sy
z
txy
sx sx
txy s11
sy Component surface
x

All stress recovery calculations are done on full 2D or 3D stress tensors.

The FE solution contains:

Component stresses - sx, sy, txy
Principal stresses - s11, s22
Effective stresses - Von Mises, Tresca

What stresses should we use for fatigue calculations?

Stress Combination Methods

Two options for using the stress tensor:

• Single component – condense stress tensor
down to a single stress
– Absolute maximum principal
– Signed Von Mises
– Signed Tresca
• Critical plane
– Normal
– Shear
The Need for Signed Stresses

250
Stress(MPa) maximum principal
Cylindrical
notched specimen
-250
with axial sine 0 1 2 3
Seconds

loading 250
Stress(MPa) minimum principal

-250
0 1 2 3
Seconds

250
Stress(MPa) absolute maximum principal

Tension -250
0 1 2 3

s
Seconds

250
Stress(MPa) von Mises stress

t -250
0 1 2 3
Seconds

Compression 250
Stress(MPa) signed von Mises

s -250
0 1 2
Seconds
3

Screen 1

t Fatigue is driven by the range of the stress cycle –

so signed stresses are important.
Understanding Multiaxial Stresses

y sy
z
s2 txy
sx sx
txy s1
sy Component surface
x

• Determine principal stresses s1, s2 where | s1 | > | s2 |

• Two useful parameters
– biaxiality ratio a=s2/s1
– orientation q of s1 relative to the local x axis
• If q and a are constant, stress state is proportional; otherwise
loading is non-proportional
Multiaxial Assessment Options

Assessment options include:

• None – uniaxial fatigue calculation only.
• Simple biaxiality – uniaxial calculation only, but
statistics of biaxiality ratio are reported.
• Standard – uniaxial calculation only, with results of a
comprehensive multiaxiality assessment reported.
• Auto – 2 stage process:
– multiaxiality assessment
– auto-selection of fatigue analysis method based
on degree of multiaxiality.
Automated Multiaxial Method Selection

Proportionality Factor

PROP ≤ 0.25 0.25 ≤ PROP < 0.5 PROP > 0.5

Biaxiality -1 ≤ a < -0.6 Critical plane normal strain in 2 directions – Critical plane normal
Ratio dominant and at 90 degrees. strain at 10 degree
No mean stress correction. intervals.
No mean stress
correction.
Issue warning.

-0.6≤ a < Uniaxial Critical plane normal Critical plane normal

0.25 strain in dominant strain at 10 degree
direction. intervals.
Morrow mean stress Morrow mean stress
correction. correction.
Issue warning.
0.25 ≤ a < Signed Tresca. Shear strain in Critical plane shear strain
0.6 Morrow mean dominant direction only. at 10 degree intervals.
stress correction. Morrow mean stress Morrow means stress
correction. correction.
Issue warning.
0.6 ≤ a ≤ 1 Critical plane shear strain at 10 degree
intervals.
Morrow mean stress correction.
Critical Plane Method

y
z

sr

Component surface
x

1. Calculate stress on the surface and resolve on to several radial planes.

2. Rainflow count and calculate the fatigue damage on each plane.
3. The CRITICAL plane is the one with the most damage!
Critical Plane Method

y
z

sr

Component surface
x

1. Calculate stress on the surface and resolve on to several radial planes.

2. Rainflow count and calculate the fatigue damage on each plane.
3. The CRITICAL plane is the one with the most damage!
Critical Plane Method

y
z

sr

Component surface
x

1. Calculate stress on the surface and resolve on to several radial planes.

2. Rainflow count and calculate the fatigue damage on each plane.
3. The CRITICAL plane is the one with the most damage!
Summary: Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses

• DesignLife has configurable methods of dealing with

multiaxial stresses.
• If the stress state is uniaxial, a simple uniaxial fatigue
analysis method can be used.
• DesignLife can use different methods to address
multiaxial fatigue, including powerful methods that
automatically perform multiaxial calculations in critical
areas.
• Critical plane analysis is a common multiaxial fatigue
method.
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Other Useful Glyphs

FE Display Glyph
• Displays results like geometry and fatigue life or
damage.
• Provides sensible contour plots of fatigue answers, i.e.
short life = red.
• Includes a second input for a list of hotspots.
Hotspot Detection Glyph

• Identifies critical fatigue areas for display.

• Highlights separate areas, not just adjacent nodes.
Other Important Glyphs
• DataValuesDisplay
– Tabulate results – fatigue results, time series inputs, etc.
• MetadataDisplay
– View metadata like inputs, analysis settings, and results
• StudioDisplay
– Create reports with all sorts of inputs and results on a
single page
• FEOutput
– Write results out for different postprocessors
Summary: Other Useful Glyphs

• The FE Display glyph allows plotting of fatigue life

contours.
• The HotSpot Detection glyph highlights regions of
short fatigue life.
• Other glyphs can be used to further report DesignLife
results:
– DataValuesDisplay
– MetadataDisplay
– StudioDisplay
– FEOutput
Exercise 2: DesignLife

DesignLife Worked Example #2

Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Duty Cycle Analysis

Duty Cycles as Load Inputs

• A duty cycle is a combined set of loading or events that

defines a component’s life.
• Also called a durability schedule, composite, or load
spectrum.
• Each event can have repeat values to reflect customer
usage.
• Miner’s rule needs to account for all events and all repeats.

+ +

Event A x 510 repeats Event B x 200 repeats

Using Duty Cycles

Three methods of combining the events in a duty cycle:

• Independent
– Calculate damage for each event separately and sum per Miner’s
rule
– Fast but can miss overall largest cycle
• Combined full
– Concatenate events in the time domain and calculate damage
– Slow but captures all cycles
• Combined fast
– Calculate damage for each event separately and sum per Miner’s
rule
– But also keep track of large overall cycles by counting residuals
– Fast and captures largest cycles  good compromise
Duty Cycle Worked Example

DesignLife Worked Example #6

Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Advanced Fatigue
Analysis Methods
Spot Weld Fatigue Analysis
• Uses coarse mesh with shell
elements (~ 10 mm)
representing mid-planes. Spotweld “Nugget”
• Spotwelds modelled by stiff
beam elements (NASTRAN
CBAR).
• Also supported – CWELD,
ACM formulations.
• Cross sectional forces and
moments are used to calculate
structural stress around the Beam Element
edge of the weld spot.
• Life calculations are made
around spot weld using Miner’s
rule.
• Worst location reported.
Seam Weld Fatigue Analysis

• Designed and validated for

thin sheet automotive
structures (1-5 mm sheet
thickness).
• Based on structural stress
at weld toe, root, and
throat.
• Generic weld fatigue
curves.
• Interpolation between
bending and membrane
behavior for fillet welds.
• Mean stress and thickness
corrections.
Vibration Fatigue Analysis

• Simulate vibration tests driven by random (PSD)

or swept-sine loading.
• More realistic and efficient than time-domain
analysis for random loading.
• Include static offset case.
• Based on established
methods and military
standards.
Dang Van Multiaxial Fatigue

• Dang Van is a multiaxial fatigue limit criterion.

• Based on the premise that there is plasticity on a
microscopic level, leading to shakedown.
• After shakedown, the important factors for fatigue
are the amplitude of the microscopic shear
stresses and the magnitude of the hydrostatic
stress.
Fatigue damage occurs if….

t (t )  a  ph( t )  b  0
Additional Worked Examples
DesignLife Worked Examples
#4: Dang Van Criterion
#9: Seam Weld Fatigue
#10: Vibration Fatigue
Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
Introduction to ICE-flow DesignLife

Advanced Edit
 Advanced Edit
For simplicity, standard glyphs only expose the most important properties to
the user.
All DesignLife analysis glyphs are massively configurable through
Advanced Edit.

Right click on analysis

glyph to access
Advanced Edit.
Advanced Edit Architecture

A CAE Analysis Glyph requires at

least one of each:
• FE Results Import Object
• Load Map Object
• Material Map Object
• Run Object
FE Results
• Results Handler Object
Import

Results
Material Map Run
Handler

Load Map
Anatomy of a Fatigue Configuration

• Import FE results files

• Configure analysis groups
• Import time series (in this case from pipe)
and map to loadcases
• Attach a material database and map
material properties to model (default
material)
• Configure analysis runs
• Configure outputs for postprocessing
• Control messaging and messaging level

Some parts can be left blank or wildcards

used and will be configured automatically in
a data sensitive manner (inputs from pipe).
Advanced Edit Worked Example

DesignLife Worked Example #7

Course Outline

1. Fatigue Analysis Exercise 1

2. Using DesignLife, Part 1
3. Using DesignLife, Part 2 Exercise 2
4. Recovering Varying Stresses
5. Fatigue and Multiaxial Stresses
6. Other Useful Glyphs Exercise 3
7. Duty Cycle Analysis
8. Advanced Fatigue Analysis Methods
9. Advanced Edit
The Objectives

During this class, you will learn….

• Concepts of fatigue analysis
• To perform fatigue calculations with FE models
using DesignLife
Questions About Fatigue Inputs
What service loads or vibrations were collected? How
Loading were they collected? Are they static or dynamic or
Environment both? What else causes stress? Will the FEA model
them all?

Does the model reflect all the service loads? What

are the constraints? How were stresses solved?
Geometry Static, dynamic, linear, non-linear? How refined is the
mesh? How confident are you in peak stresses?

Look past static properties like E and u. What material

Material is the part made of? What fatigue properties are
Properties available? Is the part really made of the same
material as the fatigue life curve you found in a
handbook?

Without high quality inputs and some thought, you will get the wrong answer.
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