HL-T: 3000 The Basics of HyperLife Crack Growth

This tutorial guides you through a step-by-step process that covers all the major functionalities ofHyperLife Crack Growth. By working through the tutorial, you can quickly learn the tool and start using HyperLife Crack Growth to evaluate the Crack Growth problem.

Before you begin, copy the file(s) used in this tutorial to your working directory.

Import the Model and Results File

  1. From the Home tools, Files tool group, click the Open Model tool.
    Figure 1.
    The Open Model/Results Files dialog opens.
  2. Browse for and select HL-3000\Fillet.fem as the model file.
  3. Browse for and select HL-3000\Fillet.h3d as the result file.
  4. Click Apply.
    Figure 2.

Assign Materials

Create Material with Strain Life and Crack Growth – Total Life properties.

  1. Click the Material tool.
    Figure 3.
    The Assign Material dialog opens.
  2. Activate the checkbox next to the part Base and Fillet.
  3. Click the My Material tab.
  4. Click .
    A new material named Mat_EN("n") is created.
  5. Set the Elastic Modulus to 155000.
  6. Set the Standard Error of Log(elastic strain) (SEe) to 0.0.
  7. Set the Standard Error of Log(plastic strain) (SEp) to 0.0.
  8. Switch to Crack Properties and review the default properties.
  9. Click Plot & Save.
    Figure 4.
    Figure 5.
  10. Right-click on the newly created material and select Add to Assign Material List.
  11. Click the Assign Material Data tab.
  12. For Base and Fillet, select Mat_EN("n") from the Material drop-down menu.
  13. Accept the default parameters in the Assign Material Data tab.
    Figure 6.
  14. Exit the dialog.

Assign Load Histories

Create required event combine load history channel and FE subcases.

  1. Click the Load Map tool.
    Figure 7.
    The Load Map dialog opens.
  2. From the Channel Type drop-down menu at the top of the dialog, select Constant Amplitude.
  3. Click to add the load case.
  4. Click to view a plot of the load. Tip: Expand the width of the dialog to view a clearer picture of the plot.
    Figure 8.
    Tip: Expand the width of the dialog to view a clearer picture of the plot.
  5. On the bottom half of the dialog, verify Auto is selected for event creation.
  6. Select Subcase 1 and the Constant Amplitude load, then click to create an event.
  7. Event_1 is created with Configuration, select Superposition.
  8. Set Scale to 100.
  9. Activate the Event_1 checkbox.
    Figure 9.
  10. Exit the dialog.

Define a Hotspot

Defining a Hotspot to which Crack Properties are assigned.

  1. Click the Hotspot tool.
    Figure 10.
    The Hotspot guidebar opens.
    Figure 11.
  2. Click on the left icon to open the Hotspot creation options.
    Figure 12.
    Creation option is set to Manual.
    Figure 13.
    Note: Custom Config file allows user to creating a hotspot at required node and create-assign a system to define the crack direction. The feature requires a configuration file (.txt) linked to a .csv file containing nodal information for system creation using 3 nodes.
  3. Click on Nodes and select node by ID: 1814 and click on the button to create hotspot at selected node.
  4. Open Crack definition options by pressing the button.
    Figure 14.
    Figure 15.
    1. Set Crack Direction to Normal.
      Note:

      System defining the crack direction can be created and assigned to the hotspot.

      From the created system: Z-axis represent the crack direction and XZ-plane represents the Stress distribution direction.

    2. Set Bias Method to Adapt to Mesh Size.
      Adapt to Mesh Size extracts stress in elements bisecting the crack direction. Biasing Coefficient defines the number of points from each element in the crack direction.
    3. Residual table and Crack Angle are not applied.
      Crack Angle allows rotation of the XZ plane for stress distribution direction.
    4. Crack dimension and Crack type are set to Two Dimensional Crack – WF solutions and Semi-Elliptical surface Crack.
    5. The following crack dimensions are updated.
      • Specimen thickness: 19.0
      • Initial Crack length: 0.05
      • Final Crack Length a: 15.2
      • Initial Crack Length b: 0.1
      • Final Crack Length b: 15.2
      • Max no. of cycles (0=inf): 100000000
    6. Exit the dialog.

Evaluate and View Results

  1. From the Evaluate tool group, click the Run Analysis tool.
    The Evaluate dialog opens.
    Figure 16.
  2. Enter a name for the run.
  3. Click Run.
    Result files are saved to the home directory and the Run progress bar appears in the status bar.
  4. Once the run is complete, click the Evaluate icon.
  5. Use the Results Explorer to select the hotspot and review its rate of crack growth.
    Figure 17.
    Figure 18.
  6. Review the working directory for:
    • Log file: CG_Run.log: highlights the run summary
    • Stress Distribution file: n_1814_HotSpot1_Event1_Fatload1.txt
    • Crack Growth results: n_1814_HotSpot1.csv