Fatigue Manager

The fatigue manager allows you to write stress and strain results from a finite element analysis to an external file that can be used to set up a fatigue analysis.

Stress and strain results are used for fatigue analysis of shell elements. You may choose to write the results for the entire finite element model or for selected entities.
Note: Currently, only nSOFT and feSafe format files can be written. See Interfacing with nSOFT for additional details on using the HyperView/nSOFT interface.
From the Durability menu, select Fatigue.
Attention: You must load the durability.mvw file in order to activate the Durability menu and Fatigue Manager panel.

Activate the Fatigue Manager

  1. From the File menu, select Load > Preference File.
    The Preferences dialog is displayed.
  2. From the Preferences dialog, click Register.
    The Open Preference File dialog is displayed.
  3. Navigate to the durability.mvw file (located in the <install_directory>/utility/Fatigue directory) and click Open.
    The durability.mvw file is added to the Registered Preferences list.
  4. Select durability.mvw from the list and click the Load button.
    The file is loaded and the Durability menu is added to the menu bar.
  5. Next, load a model with results into HyperView.
    See the Load Model topic for more information on supported model and result types.
    You can also use the Contour panel to view the stress and strain results for the current model.
    Note: The fatigue manager only supports post-processing from the full stress or strain tensor, or a user-defined group. The full tensor data types are denoted in HyperView as Stress(t) and Strain(t).
  6. From the Durability menu, select Fatigue.
    The fatigue manager is activated and the panel is displayed.
    Note: Even after loading the durability.mvw file, you can still access any of the other panels in HyperView. To return to the fatigue manager, select Fatigue from the Durability menu.

Write an nCode or feSafe Fatigue Analysis File

  1. Activate the fatigue manager.
  2. Load a model file and a results file.
  3. Optional: Select the Contour panel, from the Results toolbar, to view the stress and strain results for the current model.
    See the Contour panel topic for additional information.
    Note: The fatigue manager only supports post-processing from the full stress or strain tensor, or a user-defined group. The full tensor data types are denoted in HyperView as Stress(t) and Strain(t).
  4. From the Durability menu, select Fatigue.
    The fatigue manager is activated and the panel is displayed.
  5. Select a fatigue solver from the Fatigue solver drop-down menu.
    • nCode
    • feSafe
  6. Select an entity from the input collector menu.
    • Elements
    • Components
  7. Pick one or more entities from the model.
    • Pick an elements directly from the model in the modeling window.
    • Click the input collector (Elements or Components) and use the extended entity selection menu to select elements.
      • Select By Window to select the model elements/components that are contained in the window that you create.
      • From the Extended Entity Selection subpanel, select Entities inside the window.
      • From the Visibility filter combo box, select Displayed.
      • Use the SHIFT + left mouse button to draw/define the window in the graphics area.
      • Click Add.
      • Click Return to return to the fatigue manager.
  8. Select a result type, from the list of available result types, using the drop-down menu.
    Note: Tensor result types are denoted as -result type name+ (t).
  9. Optional: If corner data is available, the Use corner data option is activated by default.
    If this option is activated, the corner data at each node will be exported per element. If this option is deactivated, centroidal data will be exported.
  10. Under Result location 2D, click the expansion button to display the Export Result Location 2D dialog.
    1. Select the layer(s) (Mid, Lower, or Upper) from which the elemental results will be exported.
    2. Click OK to apply the selections and close the dialog.
      Note: Click Cancel to disregard changes and exit the dialog.
    You can also use the All, None, and Reverse buttons at the bottom of the dialog to select/deselect layers.
    OptionDescription
    All Selects all simulations.
    None Deselects all selections.
    Reverse Reverses the current selections.
  11. Under Subcase, click the expansion button to display the Export Load Cases dialog.
    1. Select the load case(s) that you would like extract by placing a check mark in the box next to the desired load case.
    2. Click OK to apply the selections and close the dialog.
      Note: Click Cancel to disregard changes and exit the dialog.
    You can also use the All, None, and Reverse buttons at the bottom of the dialog to select/deselect layers.
    OptionDescription
    All Selects all simulations.
    None Deselects all selections.
    Reverse Reverses the current selections.
  12. Use the Simulation options to define the time step values.
    1. Select a start time from the From drop-down menu.
    2. Select an end time from the To drop-down menu.
    3. Select a time step increment from the By Step option. Click the up or down arrow to increase/decrease the increment.
  13. Click the Output File folder to display the Export Fatigue File dialog.
    1. Designate the file name and file folder to which you want to save the file.
    2. Click Save.
  14. Use the Analysis type selection box to select the analysis type.
    • Transient
    • Static/Modal
  15. Use the Output format selection box to select the output format.
    • ASCII
    • BINARY
    Note: ASCII is the only output format available for feSafe.
  16. Click Export to export/write the fatigue analysis file.
    Note: Even after loading the durability.mvw file, you can still access any of the other panels in HyperView. To return to the fatigue manager, select Fatigue from the Durability menu.