Case Study: Süddeutsche Gelenkscheibenfabrik achieves accurate, efficient fatigue-strength assessment of elastic couplings under rotating loads with Altair

Fatigue Strength Assessment of an Elastic Coupling under Rotating Loads According to the FKM Guideline

Süddeutsche Gelenkscheibenfabrik (SGF) faced a complex fatigue‑strength challenge for its elastic couplings: nonlinear link elements, rotating loads and large numbers of load combinations meant the superposition principle could not be used and every combination risked mischaracterizing part strength under the FKM guideline. To address this, vendor Altair was engaged to apply a simulation‑driven fatigue assessment workflow using a load‑step‑wise FKM assessment (via the S‑Life FKM hdf5 interface) tailored to SGF’s flanges.

Altair implemented a streamlined three‑step process—multibody simulation to extract forces/torques, FEM to compute stress states, and an S‑Life FKM P2P (two‑load‑step) fatigue assessment—to reduce dozens of load cases to two representative load steps. The approach cut the workflow to a single MBS run, a single FEM run and a single fatigue assessment, reducing engineer time and error sources, avoiding conservative over‑dimensioning, and producing more accurate, symmetric fatigue predictions and clear cyclic utilization metrics for the flanges.

Süddeutsche Gelenkscheibenfabrik

Domen Stadler

Simulation Engineer Advance Development