Fatigue simulation of rubber components in Ansys

[scarules2006]

Dear experts,
Can I establish the live time of a metal/rubber component with Ansys, subjected to a, let's say, radial displacement or loading? From where should I start? I have no idea if it is possible or how can it be done. At my firm we test experimentally the durability of our components to find out for how many cycles it can hold but we would want to do this by computing simulation. We have Ansys Workbench 15. Thank You!
Best regards!

 

[scarules2006]

Anyone? Rick?

 

[rickfischer51]

I would start by getting Hertzberg and Manson's book on fatigue of plastics and reading up. Or maybe Structural Analysis of Thermoplastic Components by Trantina and Nimmer. There is also a chapter on polymers in Hertzberg's Deformation and Fracture Mechanics of engineering Materials. Fatigue of viscoelastic materials is not nearly as straight forward as it is for metals, because they generate heat when cycled, both in service and in testing. You have to account for the heat and match the loading scheme of the part to the test. I've done a little work with thermoplastics, none with elastomers, but I know enough to know this is tricky business.

You may be able to back an S/N curve out of component testing you've already done. Analyze a couple of parts you've already tested, and take stresses from your analysis and cycles to failure from your testing, and plot the data.

Rick Fischer
Principal Engineer
Argonne National Laboratory

 

[scarules2006]

Thank you Rick!