Step by Step Method of Fatigue Analysis of

a Piping System Using Caesar II

In my last article on Fatigue Analysis I had explained the basics required for performing fatigue
analysis of piping systems. This article will explain the step by step methodology of actual
analysis steps which need to be followed during fatigue analysis using Caesar II. Before I start
the analysis steps, a short description of typical fatigue curves are required from where we have
to take the allowable limit for fatigue analysis.
Fatigue Curve:
Plot of Cyclic Stress capacity of a material is called fatigue curve, also known as S-N curve.
ASME Section VIII Div 2 Provide fatigue curve for various material.



Fatigue design curves are generated from test data by applying large safety margins to the
average property curve.
While considering material fatigue in design, an additional safety margin is often applied against
the cycles-to-failure at a given stress amplitude. As an example, if a component is cycled
continuously over the same stress range (Any constant stress range), a design limit on allowable
(permitted) cycles may correspond to the cycle life multiplied by a factor (safety margin) such as
0.8. This is the common safety margin employed in vessel and piping design.
For every material, a fatigue curve is normally generated by experimental analysis which
correlates peak stress range with the number of cycles to failure.

The alternating stress Sa is defined as one-half of the calculated peak stress.
As already mentioned in my last article that fatigue failure may be prevented by ensuring that the
number of load cycles N that the system experiences are fewer (lower) than the number
permitted for the alternating stress developed.
The cumulative effect shall be evaluated in case if there are two or more types of stress cycles
which produce significant stresses. The material fatigue resistance at a given applied stress or
strain range is a function of a number of factors, including material strength and ductility.When
to perform Fatigue Analysis:

Normally the fatigue analysis is performed for existing plants to evaluate actual cause for any
failure. For new plants the analysis can be performed only if the project specification permits to
do so. Refer project guidelines on the application requirement for fatigue analysis. Before
starting the analysis be ready with following data which will be required during analysis:
Fatigue Curve of the piping material
Enough process data for finding the total number of cycles throught the design life of the piping
system.

Steps for Fatigue Analysis using Caesar II:

Assigning the fatigue curve data to the Piping Material in use: This is done on the
Allowable auxiliary screen. Fatigue data may be entered directly, or can be read from a text
file by clicking the Fatigue Curves Button. Seven commonly used curves are available in
\Caesar\System\*.Fat. (For Ceasar version 2012 and 2013 you may not find it in few
computers, But these are available in earlier versions) Fatigue curves provide series of S-N
data which define the allowable stress with given anticipated cycle and vise versa.

Defining the fatigue load cases: For this purposes, a new stress type, FAT, has been already
defined in Caesar II database. For every fatigue case, the number of cycles anticipated must
also be entered in appropriate space.

Calculation of the fatigue stresses: Caesar II automatically does this claculation for us. The
fatigue stresses, unless explicitly defined by the applicable code are same as Caesar II
calculated stress intensity (Max Stress Intensity), in order to conform to the requirement of
ASME section VIII, Division 2 Appendix 5.


Determination of the fatigue stress allowables: The allowable stresses for fatigue analysis
are required to be interpolated logarithmically from the fatigue curve based upon the number
of cycles (throughout its life) designated in the fatigue load cases. The calculated stress is
assumed to be a peak-to-peak cycle value (i.e., thermal expansion, settlement, pressure, etc)
for static load cases, so the allowable stress can be extracted directly from fatigue curve. On
the other hand for harmonic and dynamic load cases, the calculated stress is assumed to be a
zeroto-peak cycle value (i.e., vibration, earthquake, etc), so the extracted allowable need to
be divided by 2 prior to use in the comparison.


Determination of the allowable number of cycles: The flip side of calculating the allowable
fatigue stress for the designated number of cycles is the calculation of the allowable number
of cycles for the calculated stress level. This is done be logarithmically interpolating the
Cycles axis of the fatigue curve based upon the calculated stress value. Since static stresses
are assumed to be peak-to-peak cycle values, the allowable number of cycles is interpolated
directly from the fatigue curve. Since harmonic and dynamic stresses are assumed to be zero-
to-peak cyclic values, the allowable number of cycles is interpolated using twice the
calculated stress value.


Reporting the analysis results: Caesar II provides two reports for viewing the results of load
cases of stress type FAT; standard stress report and cumulative usage report. The first of these
is the standard stress report for displaying the calculated fatigue stress and the fatigue
allowable at each node. Stress reports could be generated individually for each load case and
show whether any of the individual load cases in isolation would fail the system or not.

However, in situations where there is more than one cyclic load case potentially contributing to
fatigue failure, the cumulative usage report is more appropriate. In order to generate this report,
the user should select all of the FAT load cases which contributes to the overall system
degradation (possible failure). The cumulative usage report lists for each node point the usage
ratio (actual cycles divided by allowable cycles), and then sums (combines) these up for total
cumulative Usage. A total value greater than 1.0 indicates a potential fatigue failure.
I am sure the above write up is confusing for many of you. That is why I will prepare a case
study of this analysis for you (along with Caesar II figures) and publish in my next article which
will clarify the analysis steps more clearly.