XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX''"> Element Centroidal Calculations
In the General Setup Parameters on the main MSC Fatigue setup form you can select Element for the Results Loc. This simply means that calculated fatigue lives will be determined at the element centroids. The following comments are made with respect to this feature:
1. It only makes sense to use this with 1D or 2D elements since fatigue cracks tend to initiate on the surface.
2. FE results in the database that exist at nodes or integration points will be averaged to the element centroid.
3. External nodal PATRAN Results files cannot be used if Element is specified. And the converse is true also.
4. When postprocessing element centroidal results, it is best to color code the elements as opposed to making a fringe contour plot
.
This is done in the Results application. To specify that a fringe plot be element filled, use the Display Attributes mode after selecting the appropriate result to plot and change the Style to Element Fill. An example of this type of plot using the results from the patran_els.fin setup file from one of the earlier mini-exercises is shown here.
