Parts and structures subjected to cyclic mechanical and thermal loads can suffer fatigue. Whether you design engine parts or bridges, FSTAR helps you predict how fatigue will affect the overall life of your product, and identify the sections that may be critically damaged.
Although fatigue occurs naturally, by using FSTAR you can minimize its effects. You can enter information about fatigue-causing events directly on your design model. These can include cycles and loading (S-N curves), local stress concentration factors and load case scale factors. You can also choose one of two predefined fatigue curves within FSTAR, or define your own S-N or SM-T curve.
To make the modeling process faster and easier, you can consider stresses associated with load conditions previously calculated through load cases or timesteps. You can modify the stored stresses in FSTAR's database or specify your own to create the most realistic model.
FSTAR calculates the partial and total fatigue usage factor -- that is, the fraction of product life used up by a combination of fatigue events. It can also list alternating stress intensities for all effective combinations of stress conditions at selected points.
FSTAR displays fatigue results as color-filled contours, color lines or vector plots, highlighting areas of the design where the greatest amount of damage from fatigue will occur.
A recently-introduced feature lets you interface FSTAR with the advanced dynamics module (ASTAR), so that stress results from time history analysis may be used directly in conjunction with FSTAR. You can also use FSTAR with such other COSMOS/M modules as STAR (static analysis), NSTAR (nonlinear analysis), and HSTAR (heat transfer analysis), or as a stand-alone system with GEOSTAR, COSMOS/M's fast, graphics-driven pre- and postprocessor.
Take human error (and human trial and error) out of designing long-lasting products by testing your designs thoroughly for fatigue-prone areas with FSTAR.