Magna Powertrain (MPT) and Altair Engineering

held a “Fatigue & Durability Meeting” in

Troy/Detroit on the 21 October. The pleasant

surroundings of the Altair Headquarters were

used as the venue for presenting the software

from both companies and for discussing hot

topics in operational strength analysis. MPT

and Altair were delighted to welcome some

80 delegates, primarily from the automotive

industry, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford,

Nissan, Detroit Diesel, Toyota, Mazda,

Honda, AVL, FEV, Federal Mogul, SMW,

Wayne State University, Visteon, McLarren

Performance and BASF, to name but a few.

The presentations kicked off with a review

of the HyperWorks products from Altair,

followed by presentations from the FEMFAT

team of Helmut Dannbauer, Dietmar

Peiskammer and Matthias Meise who

described capabilities of the FEMFAT

modules in detail and illustrated potential

applications. Specialized topics included

“Stress and fatigue analysis of a cylinder

block”, “Predicting car body fatigue life”,

"Virtual iteration using MBS and FEMFAT”

or “Modal-based strength analysis of a

crankshaft using NASTRAN, ADAMS and

FEMFAT”. A relevant workshop example

completed each presentation, demonstrating

the simplicity and speed of using FEMFAT.

During the lively discussion periods, there

was a vigorous exchange of views between

the delegates. Numerous detailed questions

on specific applications linked to FEMFAT

were discussed with the local support team

in Troy, even days after the meeting.

Looking forward to the second “FEMFAT

User Meeting North America”, which takes

place in fall 2006 in Detroit, the FEMFAT

team are hoping for numerous user papers.

MAGNA POWERTRAIN – ALTAIR cooperation:

intensive discussions are currently taking

place with Altair on the future coupling of

FEMFAT in HyperView. On the cards is a

preconfigured FEMFAT startup, in which

entity and stress data is imported auto-

matically for example. This can deliver

even greater efficiency when working with

Altair products.

Fifty delegates, including major companies

such as Hyundai Motor Co., Tata Daewoo,

Katech, Rotem, Doosan Infracore, Jatco, and

DongYang Piston, and representatives from

the Kangwon, Kyungsang, Donga and Hanseo

Universities met on 13 October in the “63

Building” in Seoul for the first Korean FEMFAT

User Meeting. In addition to the presentation

on FEMFAT 4.6 and practical tips, durability

experts from Doosan Infracore (formerly

Daewoo), Rotem and our partner ATES talked

about their experiences with FEMFAT.

We attribute the increasing number of Korean

users not only to FEMFAT’s excellent repu-

tation, but also to the expert sales and

support provided for our products by our

sales partner ATES Advanced Technology

Engineering Services.

Contents:

1st FEMFAT User Meeting, Korea ___ 1

Durability & Fatigue Meeting, Detroit _______________ 1

Future platform strategy __________ 2

FAQs: When/Why BASIC,ChannelMAX orTransMAX _______________ 3

Isothermaltemperature influence ____ 3

FEMFAT star tup options ___ 3

Training courses ________________ 4

News __________________________ 4

Stop press _____________________ 4

Event calendar 2006 ____________ 4

Publisher’s information __________ 4

Visit our website:

www.femfat.com

Winter Edition 2005/2006 - No. 7

1st FEMFAT User Meeting Korea, Seoul

Happy Christmas!Many thanks for your continued loyalty. Durability & Fatigue Meeting, Detroit

FEMFAT VISUALIZER –Evaluation extended

In FEMFAT 4.6, the VISUALIZER module

has also been significantly revised,

and new features added (stress ani-

mation).

Numerous improvements in per for-

mance feature alongside high display

quality and automatic graphical output.

We invite you to tr y out this cost-

effective tool free for one-month, so

that you can see for yourself the

benefits of FEMFAT VISUALIZER.

FEMFATNEWSLETTER Winter Edition 2005/2006

2

Future platform strategyIn general, all FEMFAT modules will run in future on all supported

hardware platforms.

Summary of FEMFAT 4.6 hardware platforms

Operating system Platform Bits Note

Linux i686 32 glibc 2.3 or above, Kernel 2.4 or above

Linux Opteron, 64 glibc 2.3 or above, AMD64, EM64T Kernel 2.6

Linux Itanium2 64 glibc 2.3 or above,Kernel 2.4 or above

AIX ≥ 5.1L Power3/4 64

IRIX ≥ 6.5.22 MIPS 32

HP UX ≥ 11.00 PA-Risc 2.0 64 HP Quality Pack required

HP UX ≥ 11.23 Itanium2 64

Windows 2000/XP i686 32 SP3 required

Windows XP 64 Opteron, 64 planned releaseAMD64, EM64T spring 2006

SUN Solaris Sparc 32

Summary of FEMFAT 4.6 interfaces

All binary interfaces automatically support big/little endian conversion(data transfer PC <-> workstation).

Interface

Abaqus fil B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ * ✓

Abaqus odb B ✓! ✓! ✓! ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓! * ✓

Ansys cdb A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Ansys geo A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Ansys lis A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Ansys rst B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Cosmos A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

I-DEAS universal A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Indeed A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Intergraph A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

LS-Dyna d3plot B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Marc t16 B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Medina bif/bof B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Nastran bulk A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Nastran op2 B ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✗ * ✓

Patran neutral A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Pro Mechanica A ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ * ✓

Key:

✓ supports files > 2 Gb

✓! supports odb files > 2 Gb, although an internal transfer file

must remain < 2Gb

✗ limited to 2 Gb* spring 2006 (files > 2 Gb)

Performance comparison for FEMFAT 4.6

Hardware Operating system CPU speed [Mhz]

AMD Opteron Redhat EL 3 2000

Intel Pentium IV Windows XP 3400

SGI Altix Redhat EL 3 1400

HP Itanium2 HP-UX 11.22 900

IBM Power3 AIX 5.1L 450

Intel Pentium III Redhat 7.3 800

SGI MIPS IRIX 6.5 400

HP PA-Risc HP UX 11.00 360

SUN Sparc Solaris 8 333

Computing time normalized to AMD Opteron

Platform planning for FEMFAT 4.7 and 4.8

FEMFAT has been supporting a large number of hardware platforms

for many years. This flexibility is highly valued by customers. On the

other hand, every additional platform ties up development capacity

that cannot be invested in the product itself. Looking at machine

performance, their extent of use amongst FEMFAT users and the

strategy of hardware manufacturers, then an end is foreseeable for

the SUN Sparc-based systems and the MIPS-based SGI hardware.

The 32 bit versions of the Linux and Windows PC operating systems

are also likely to be rapidly superseded by their 64-bit successors

in the technical sector. Given the widespread use of 32-bit systems,

however, no definitive date has been set for discontinuing their

support.

The following platforms will be fully supported for a limited period:

• SUN Sparc versions including 4.6x (until approx. end of 2006)

• SGI MIPS versions including 4.7x (until approx. end of 2007)

This information relates to the FEMFAT application. SUN Sparc and

SGI MIPS will be supported as license servers for as long as

customers are using these systems.

Bin

ary

/Ascii

Lin

ux,

i686

Lin

ux,

Opte

ron, AM

D64, EM

64T

Lin

ux,

Ita

niu

m2

AIX

≥ 5

.1L, Pow

er

3/4

IRIX

≥ 6

.5.2

2, M

IPS

HP U

X ≥

11.0

0, PA-R

isc 2

.0

HP U

X ≥

11.2

3, Itaniu

m2

Win

dow

s 2

000/XP, i6

86

Win

dow

s X

P64, AM

D64, EM

64T

SU

N 3

2 S

ola

ris, S

parc

AMD Opteron

Intel Pentium IV

SGI Altix

HP Itanium2

IBM Power3

Intel Pentium III

SGI MIPS

HP PA-Risc

SUN Sparc

FEMFATNEWSLETTERWinter Edition 2005/2006

3

FAQs

When/Why BASIC, ChannelMAX or TransMAX?

BASIC

Uses a simple load history that can be des-

cribed by two states and a constant component

(e.g. assembly).

Advantage: the analysis speed is very fast

because BASIC holds the data in RAM.

Examples: Conrod, cylinder head, gearbox casing, shafts etc.

Input data required:

• Upper/lower stress or amplitude/mean stress

• Constant stress (optional)

• Load spectrum for damage analysis

ChannelMAX

The load history is as complex as you wish

and can be described by superimposing “unit

load cases” (static states or modal shapes).

The system response (except local plastic

deformations) must be linear; up to millions

of time points possible.

Examples: wheel mounts, axle frames, body work, crank shafts

Input data required:

• One stress result per channel (load direction, modal shape)

• One load-time sequence per channel

TransMAX

Most general form of the load history. The

system response can be completely non-linear;

number of time points limited to hundreds

(thousands).

Examples: cylinder block and other components with complex

contacts.

Input data required:

• Sequence of computed stress states over time

Isothermal temperature influence

Enabling the isothermal temperature influence means that the local

operating temperature is taken into account at all analyzed nodes

(usually upper temperature).

FEMFAT provides various analysis methods for this:

“FKM guideline” method

The isothermal temperature only affects the dynamic strength

values in the Haigh diagram (vertical scaling).

“FEMFAT 4.5” method

This option changes both the dynamic strength parameters in the

Haigh diagram (similar to the FKM guideline) and the static strength

parameters (horizontal scaling of the Haigh diagram). The same

formulae from the FKM guideline are used for modifying the yield

stress and ultimate tensile stress. The user is warned if the

temperature exceeds the range defined in the FKM guideline, and

the influence factor is extrapolated on the basis of the implemented

formulae.

“User defined” method

In this method, the temperature dependent material data specified

by the user is taken into account; this data can be defined in the

menu “Material data -> Properties at higher temperatures”. The

temperature dependent fully reversed endurance limit and the ultimate

tensile strength must be defined as a minimum for this method.

“FEMFAT 4.6” method (default)

This option is based on method 4.5, but in addition the cyclic

coefficient of hardening K’ of the cyclic stress-strain curve is

reduced in a similar way as the ultimate tensile strength. This

means that the isothermal temperature influence is also correctly

taken into account in the mean stress redistribution of linear elastic

stresses according to Neuber (FEMFAT PLAST module).

Isothermal temperature influence on Rm, Re and K´

One can see from the curves that all temperature influences based

on FKM produce conservative results.

FEMFAT startup options

The start lines for UNIX/Linux read: femfat4 <-Option> and for

Windows: CALL femfat.tcl <-Option>

-ini

The -ini option opens a menu immediately after startup for defining

the memory allocation, interface formats and user interface.

-lic

This option can be used from FEMFAT 4.6 version onwards. It

displays a dialog box in which one can select from the available

licenses, the modules required for the current job. This is useful

for all customers who have a different number of licenses for

different modules.

-dsp = Display#

This option can be used to specify a redirection to any Ethernet

address of another machine. Without a valid display, FEMFAT cannot

startup i.e. this option is often required with server machines.

-job = Jobname.ffj

Execution of multiple FEMFAT analyses in batch mode can be

automated. Similar jobs containing only slight changes e.g. filenames

of FEM data - are easy to set up from an existing job.ffj file using

an editor. The modified jobs are given a new name (e.g. job2.ffj,

job3.ffj,..) and can be listed sequentially under UNIX/Linux in a

shell script.

Under Windows, the *.bat extension must be selected so that the

file can subsequently be executed.

A detailed explanation is given in the “Introduction” chapter in the

FEMFAT user manual.

0,0000

0,2000

0,4000

0,6000

0,8000

1,0000

1,2000

20 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500Temperature [°C]

Influe

nce f

actor

Steel/nickel alloy / tool steel

Fine-grained steel

Gray cast iron

Compacted graphite iron / nodular graphite cast iron / sintered steel

Malleable cast iron

Cast steel

Aluminum

Prices (excl. VAT):

per delegate Euro 770.00

per additional delegate

from the same

company Euro 610.00

University/research

organization Euro 300.00

Including 2 month FEMFATevaluation license

Information:

a.schmidthaler@ecs.steyr.com

FEMFATNEWSLETTER Winter Edition 2005/2006

4

Multiaxial fatigue

Welded structures

Spot-joined structures

Analysis & preparation of data

Sub-modeling

Engine dynamics/Acousticssimulation

BREAKStatic safety factors

Local plasticityPLAST

HEATThermomechanical fatigue

STRAINMeasured strain basedfatigue analyses

3D-postprocessor

Fatigue life/Damage andsafety factors for simple loads,comprehensive FE-interfacesand material database

Event calendar 2006

*** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS ***

FEMFAT training courses - new dates 2006

Publisher’s information:

Engineering Center Steyr GmbH & Co KGSteyrer Strasse 32, A-4300 St. ValentinTel: ++43 7435 501 303,Fax: ++43 7435 501 300a.schmidthaler@ecs.steyr.comwww.femfat.com

FEMFAT Road Show, FrankfurtSeventeen interested parties - mainly newcomers

- came to a free information day at the Hotel

Plaza in Frankfur t Offenbach on 8 November

2005. Using practical examples, we demonstrated

potential FEMFAT applications and provided

information on inter faces and all the major

FEMFAT modules. Its success has prompted us

to hold fur ther road shows: on 07.02.06 in

Hamburg and on 11.04.06 in Stockholm.

You can already register your interest with us by

e-mail or phone; you will receive a separate

invitation shortly.

Call for Papers and NotificationWe are currently intent on informing global cu-

stomers of the new range of potential applications

for FEMFAT and its additional features. After a

successful first Korean FEMFAT User Meeting in

October 2005, we are holding the 2nd FEMFAT

User Meeting Japan in the Palace Hotel Tokyo

on 10 March 2006, and the 2nd FEMFAT User

Meeting USA in Troy, Michigan in fall 2006.

More details will appear in the next issue of the

FEMFAT Newsletter. We would be delighted to

reserve a slot for any FEMFAT users already

interested in presenting a paper.

FEMFAT 4.6 released

Good things come to those who wait! And that’s

certainly true of the new FEMFAT 4.6 version,

which FEMFAT users will find under their meta-

phorical Christmas tree in December 2005.

As recompense for the wait - admittedly tempered

by a number of interim versions - the new version

includes an awesome VISUALIZER, major new

interfaces and perfected features in the MAX,

SPOT and WELD module. Have fun FEMFATing!

*** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS *** NEWS ***

7th Graz Four-wheel Congress Graz 02 - 03 Feb. 2006

Computable Casting in the Motor Industry Aachen 14 - 15 Feb. 2006

FEMFAT User Meeting Japan Tokyo 10 March 2006

Leoben Operational Strength Conference Planneralm 08 - 10 March 2006

Reliability of Mechatronic/Adaptronic Systems Darmstadt 15 - 16 March 2006

FEM Design Optimization Conference Stuttgart 21 - 22 March 2006

SAE World Congress Detroit 03 - 06 April 2006

27th International Viennese Motor Symposium Vienna 27 - 28 April 2006

DVM Day 2006 Material Parameters Berlin 09 - 11 May 2006

2nd Graz Commercial Vehicle Workshop Graz 12 May 2006

Fatigue 2006 Atlanta 14 - 19 May 2006

Gears in vehicles 2006 (VDI) Friedrichshafen 27 - 28 June 2006

Aachen Colloquium Aachen 09 -11 Oct. 2006

DVM 32nd Operational Strength Conference Steyr 11 - 12 Oct. 2006

Fisita 2006 Yokohama 22 - 27 Oct. 2006

FEMFAT User Meeting USA Detroit Fall 2006

Engineering Center Steyr, St. Valentin23 - 24 February 200626 - 27 April 200613 - 14 September 20066 - 7 December 2006

Engineering Center Troy, Detroit17 February 200616 June 200620 October 2006