Virtual assessment of joints used in car body design

In order to virtually assess the durability performance of car bodies and hang-on parts, it is crucial to use efficient simulation methods to evaluate the strength and fatigue performance of the joints. Especially, the virtual simulation of arc welds, adhesives, weld spots and rivets is a prerequisite for a subsequent hardware validation without failures. This paper focuses on modeling and simulating of fatigue lives of weld spots in car bodies while driving over a virtual test track, as well as virtual component tests, e. g. door slam tests. Based on varying modelling techniques for the joints and correlations to hardware test results, the capability to predict the fatigue lives of spot welds is investigated.