A Fatigue Design Method of Spot-Welded Lap Joint Using Neural Network

Abstract

In order to establish a long life fatigue design criterion of spot-welded thin sheet structures such as the automobile and the train bodies, an economical method was proposed. As a mechanical parameter to determine the fatigue design criterion of spot-welded structure, the maximum stress equation was defined by using artificial neural network. By using the maximum stress equation and the fatigue data previously obtained as the fatigue test results, the fatigue design criterion of spot-welded joint could be predicted without any additional fatigue tests. The results predicted by this method showed good agreement with actual fatigue test results.