Comparative performance and verification study of simplified spot weld models

A simple representation for spot weld joints is desirable for crashworthiness assessment of complicated and huge automotive body in white structures which generally contains thousands of spot weld joints. Hence, in this paper six different individual new spot weld joint finite element models simplified in terms of their geometric and constitutive representations were developed including the one that is currently used in automotive industries. The stiffness characteristics of these developed models were compared with the experimental results obtained following a simple strategy to design the welded joint based on the desired mode of nugget pull out failure. It was found that the current spot weld modeling practice in automotive industry under predict the maximum joint strength nearly by 50% for different loading conditions. The comparative study was related with the computational cost incurred by the developed effective models in different loading conditions. Hence, a suitable model for spot welded joints is established which is very simple to develop but relatively cheap in terms of computational costs