Simulation of Spot Welds and Welds Seams in Press-Hardened Steel Assemblies

Today’s automotive industry is challenged with reducing fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, weight and cost. The usage of ultra high strength steel is one possibility to reduce weight and improve crash behaviour. The development with press-hardened steel (PHS) is challenging as the material behaviour is more difficult to predict not only in tests but especially in full vehicle simulations. The predictability of failure of PHS in simulation is a very complex task. Not only does the PHS material itself need new modelling and simulation techniques to develop robust crash behaviour, but also the influence of spot welds and weld seams requires different modelling parameters. The development of a simulation method, together with the validation for the PHS part, will be shown to demonstrate correlation and predictability of development by the use of CAE.