Index / Work / N° 21
Project N°21 of 24
CategoryFEA · Simulation
Year2025

FEA Fatigue & Lifecycle Prediction

Evaluated the fatigue lifecycle and cyclical stress failure points of a plain carbon steel test specimen using SolidWorks Simulation, validating the computational cycles-to-failure against classical S-N curve predictions.

Key Engineering Contributions

  1. 01
    Dynamic Load Simulation: Modeled a rotating beam fatigue test in SolidWorks to apply constant alternating bending stresses (32.319 ksi) to a machined plain carbon steel specimen with a 0.3175-inch neck radius.
  2. 02
    Lifecycle & Damage Prediction: Conducted a comprehensive fatigue study to map the fatigue damage percentage, successfully computing the expected cycles-to-failure at 138,743 cycles directly from the simulation data.
  3. 03
    Theoretical Validation: Validated the computational bending stress against classical equations, achieving a highly accurate 1.51% margin of error. Additionally, evaluated the Factor of Safety (FOS) using both DET (0.997) and MSST (0.992) failure criteria to confirm the onset of material failure.

Visual Documentation

SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the Von-Mises stress (σvon) in the
Figure 1
01.png
SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the Von-Mises stress (σvon) in the specimen
SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the Von-Mises stress (σvon) in the specimen
SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the bending stress (σz) in the spec
Figure 2
02.png
SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the bending stress (σz) in the specimen
SolidWorks simulation stress contour plot of the bending stress (σz) in the specimen
SolidWorks simulation cycles to failure contour plot
Figure 3
03.png
SolidWorks simulation cycles to failure contour plot
SolidWorks simulation cycles to failure contour plot
Solving for number of cycles to failure using classical equations. The result of
Figure 4
04.png
Solving for number of cycles to failure using classical equations. The result of 150,436 cycles had a 8.43% error with respect to the SolidWorks simulation.
Solving for number of cycles to failure using classical equations. The result of 150,436 cycles had a 8.43% error with respect to the SolidWorks simulation.