Improving Stiffness-to-weight Ratio of Spot-welded Structures based upon Nonlinear Finite Element Modelling

4th International Conference on Mechanics and Mechatronics Research

机械制造;无线电电子学

Zhang, Shengyong^1

Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Sciences, Purdue University Northwest, United States^1

关键词: Appropriate topology;    Non-linear finite-element analysis;    Nonlinear finite element modelling;    Overlapping regions;    Spot welded;    Stiffness-to-weight ratios;    Structural stiffness;    Vehicle body;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/224/1/012013/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/224/1/012013

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Spot welding has been widely used for vehicle body construction due to its advantages of high speed and adaptability for automation. An effort to increase the stiffness-to-weight ratio of spot-welded structures is investigated based upon nonlinear finite element analysis. Topology optimization is conducted for reducing weight in the overlapping regions by choosing an appropriate topology. Three spot-welded models (lap, doubt-hat and T-shape) that approximate "typical" vehicle body components are studied for validating and illustrating the proposed method. It is concluded that removing underutilized material from overlapping regions can result in a significant increase in structural stiffness-to-weight ratio.