The study on the fatigue FEM analysis considering the effect of stamping

The fatigue FEM analysis normally cannot inherit the stamping effects due to heterogeneous codes used. This paper proposes a database modification approach to integrate the stamping effects into the fatigue FEM prediction for an engine bracket in an accelerated rig test. Equal thickness shell, unequal thickness shell (including the stamping effects) and solid element are used to simulate the tubular bracket in the fatigue analysis. Results obtained from the comparison between the numerical predictions and the experiment show that considering the stamping effects would increase the predicted fatigue life greatly and also improve the accuracy of the fatigue FEM prediction. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.