Fatigue analysis of welding seams in automotive structures

Abstract EN

For lightweight automotive structures, the stiffness and the fatigue behavior is greatly influenced by the properties of the joints.

The joining technology used and the number and locations of the joints are of high importance for both engineers and cost accountants.

An overview of common computational procedures including European and national standards is given for the assessment of the fatigue behavior of thin sheet structures with arc welds.

The influence of the quality and the size of finite shell elements on the fatigue result are investigated, and it is shown how this influence can be minimized.