You can predict the damage due to fatigue and remaining life of a part that is exposed to repeated cyclic (or sinusoidal) loading at a given operating frequency. The fatigue analysis uses the stress results from a selected linear dynamic - harmonic study to calculate the alternating stresses for extracting the cycles to failure from the part's material S-N curve.
Available for SOLIDWORKS Simulation Premium.
To define a fatigue event based on stress results from a linear dynamic - harmonic study:
- Set up and run a linear dynamic - harmonic study.
- Create a fatigue study. In the Study PropertyManager, under Options select Harmonic-fatigue of sinusoidal loading
.
- In the fatigue study tree, right-click Loading (Harmonic)
and select Add Event.
- In the Add Event (Harmonic) PropertyManager:
- Under Study, select the linear dynamic - harmonic study to associate the fatigue event.
- Under Plot Step, select the frequency (or plot step) of the sinusoidal fatigue loading.
- Under Scale and Cycles, enter the number of Cycles
for this event and the Scale Factor 
that applies to the stress results from the selected harmonic study.
- Click
.
- Right-click the top study icon and click Define Function Curves to associate an S-N curve to the material.
The von Mises stress is used to calculate the equivalent alternating stress for extracting the number of cycles to failure from the S-N curve.
-
Run the fatigue study and view the results. Right-click Results
and click Define Fatigue Plot.
You can plot results for: Life (number of cycles that cause fatigue failure, Damage (percentage of the life of part consumed by this fatigue event), and Load Factor of safety against fatigue failure. For example a load factor of safety of 3.0 at a location indicates that the defined fatigue event will cause fatigue failure at this location if you multiply the alternating stress by a factor of 3.0. A damage ratio of 1 (or 100%) indicates that the life of the part has been used during this fatigue event and structural failure is expected.
You can create multiple fatigue events that are based on the same linear dynamic - harmonic study. The software assumes that the events occur sequentially one after the other without any interaction. The von Mises stress is used to calculate the equivalent alternating stress for extracting the number of cycles to failure from the S-N curve. These options are selected by default in the Fatigue - Harmonic dialog box.