The real difference between the HCF and LCF is the strain levels in the material. If the strain levels are well below the yield, the HCF (stress based)could be used. Otherwise, the LCF (strain based) should be used. By Abaqus, you mean fe-Safe(simulia's fatigue module)? In fe-safe there are options for using different estimations.

Dear Asmita, HCF deals with low strain and long-term cyclic loads having failure limit say at least more than 10000 cycles which is contrary to LCF. For HCF in concrete you may consider my latest publications.

Thank you for your answers. In abaqus, we can simulate low cycle fatigue but not high cycle. Since, abaqus only allows elastic material for cyclic analysis, how does it relate to low cycle analysis. As dileesh said, LCF is used when the strains are above yield?

Asmita Rokaya :The low cycle fatigue regime is characterized by high cyclic stress levels in excess of the endurance limit of the material and is commonly accepted to be between 10^4 and 10^5 cycles. LCF is characterized by repeated plastic deformation (i.e. in each cycle), whereas HCF is characterized by elastic deformation. ... The number of cycles to failureis low for LCF and high for HCF, hence the terms low and high cycle fatigue.

Asmita Rokaya : Regarding HCF using the Abaqus to simulate, YES, It is possible sure. You can use ABAQUS "FE_SAFE" and you can first do weather your problem domain is static or dynamic on the ABAQUS standard or Explicit depend on your problem then save the odb file. and Export it to FE-SAFE for the desired fatigue testing.

you can refer this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjNMMdXW1QQ

Thank you Dawit, If I am using abaqus with XFEM for low cycle fatigue analysis, does it give me accurate results. because, we are using linear elastic fracture mechanics with the XFEM in abaqus?

Does FE_safe have Elastic plastic fracture mechanics capability?

I will look into FE_Safe.