14-06-2013, 12:33 PM
MSC Fatigue - Durability and Damage Analysis
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MSC Fatigue
MSC Fatigue is a Finite Element (FE) based durability and damage tolerance solver that
enables users with minimal knowledge of fatigue to perform comprehensive durability analysis.
High-cycle fatigue, low-cycle fatigue and crack growth problems can all be addressed. All
MSC Fatigue pre and post-processing is done within the Patran environment. This provides
easy access to all analysis options of MSC Fatigue. Job setup and submittal is done through
an easy-to-use graphical interface creating a single environment for durability analysis. Results
post-processing gives insight into, and identification of, fatigue problem areas allowing for
in-depth understanding of model response to changes in fatigue design parameters.
Business Value
The Problem: Some estimates put annual costs due to premature fatigue fractures in structural
components at well over $100 billion. Issues that drive this statistic include:
• Test Too Expensive: Testing against repeated loading cycles, sometimes millions of times
over, is often too expensive and time consuming to be practical
• FEA Alone Not Enough: Finite element analysis can tell you where stress “hot spots” exist,
but on their own can’t tell you whether those hot spots are critical areas for fatigue failure, or
when fatigue might become a problem
• Settling for Less: Many manufacturers simply accept long prototype development cycles,
overweight components, unpredictable warranty claims and loss of customer confidence
The Solution:
MSC Fatigue enables durability engineers to quickly and accurately predict how
long products will last under any combination of time-dependent or frequency-dependent
loading conditions. Benefits include:
• Reduced prototype testing
• Fewer product recalls
• Lower warranty costs
• Increased confidence designs will pass required test schedules
MSC Fatigue Basic Package Modules
All MSC Fatigue Pre and Post-processing is done within the Patran environment. As such,
Patran is a prerequisite for the MSC Fatigue Basic Package. The following modules comprise
the MSC Fatigue Basic Package:
Basic Stress Life and Strain Life
This module uses stress or strain results from finite element (FE) models, variations in loading,
and cyclic material properties to estimate life-to-failure. Both the traditional total life method, also
known as the stress-life (S-N) method, and the crack initiation method, also known as the local
strain-life (e-N) method, are available.
Strain Gauge
This module allows the creation of virtual software strain gauges within an MSC Nastran finite
element (FE) model. These gauges can be used to produce analytical response time histories
from the FE model under the effect of multiple time varying applied loads. The virtual strain
gauges are positioned on the FE model surface, with the gauge aligned in any orientation and
the gauge positioned independently of existing finite elements. Stress and strain time histories
may be extracted at any point on the FE model surface, based on either standard or userdefined
strain gauge definitions. The results obtained from the software strain gauge may be
based on static, transient, or quasi-static FE loadings.