1.3.2. Choose the Analysis Type

  1. Under Analysis Settings > Analysis Type, since there is no default setting, you must choose one of the analysis types: Strain Life, Stress Life, Shell Seam Weld, Solid Seam Weld, Spot Weld or Gray Iron.

    • Select Strain Life to perform the nCode Standard EN Analysis Engine.

    • Select Stress Life to perform the nCode Standard SN Analysis Engine.

    • Select Shell Seam Weld to perform the nCode SeamWeld Analysis Engine on shells.

    • Select Solid Seam Weld to perform the nCode SeamWeld Analysis Engine on solids.

      Note:  The Shell Seam Weld and Solid Seam Weld analysis types require an Ansys nCode DesignLife Enterprise license.

    • Select Spot Weld to perform the nCode SpotWeld Analysis Engine.

      Note:  The Shell Seam Weld and Spot Weld analysis types require that the upstream systems be solved with the Output > Nodal Forces Analysis Settings set to Yes.

    • Select Gray Iron to perform the nCode GrayIron EN Analysis Engine. To perform Gray Iron analysis, ensure that Gray Iron Material Properties are defined.

    • Select Safety Factor Analysis to perform the nCode Safety Factor Analysis Engine. There are several combination methods used to calculate stress-based safety factors. This implementation employs a method used in both the rail and road vehicle industries where the stress is resolved to the plane of the maximum absolute principal stress (MaxPrincipalPlane), along with standard stress combination methods such as AbsMaxPrincipal and CriticalPlane. The available materials are MultiMean and MultiRRatio curves.

    • Select Short Fiber Composite Analysis to perform the nCode Short Fiber Composite Analysis Engine. This analysis engine performs an SN-based analysis using short fiber, orientation-dependent materials.

      The method used to define the SN curves used by the fatigue calculation (SNMethod) for Short Fiber Composite Analysis is the Basquin method. This method uses a set of one or more parameterized stress-life curves, and interpolates between them (or extrapolates) based on the share of fibers in the direction of the loading. Each individual SN curve is similar to the standard SN formulation.

      The local SN curve will be determined based on a set of SN (Basquin) curves from the nCode MXD database. The corresponding Material Type property for the material map should be set to Short Fiber Composite Basquin Curves. The dataset used for Short Fiber Composite Analysis is the nCodeSFCBasquinCurveContainer.

      The only supported Solution Location for Composite Analysis is Element. Results will be recovered from the element centroid. If element centroid results are not available in the FE results file, nCodeDT will average the stresses from the nodes.

      The EntityDataType nCode property is set to Stress. Therefore, stresses will be recovered from the FE results file. Stresses can result from a static, transient, or modal analysis, but will normally be from an elastic analysis.

  2. Once you have selected the analysis type, Solution Group and Load Mapper options are exposed.

  3. Under Solution Group, select the portion of the model to be analyzed. By default, the entire model is used. Only flexible bodies are supported for a fatigue analysis. If rigid bodies are scoped as part of the solution group, they will be automatically excluded.

    Note:  For Shell Seam Weld, Solid Seam Weld and Spot Weld cases, ensure that the Solution Group is scoped only to the welds.