Two working groups in the JSAE Committee of Fatigue–Reliability Section1 are currently researching the issue of fatigue life by both experimental and the CAE approach.
Information regarding frequent critical problems on arc–welded structures were sought from auto–manufacturers, vehicle component suppliers, and material suppliers.
The method for anti–fatigue design on arc–welded structures was established not only by a database created by physical test results in accordance with the collected information but also with design procedure taking Fracture–Mechanics into consideration.
This method will be applied to vehicle development as one of the virtual laboratories in the digital prototype phase.
In this paper, both the database from bench–test results on arc welded structures and FEA algorithm unique to JSAE are proposed some of the analysis results associated with the latter proposal are also reported.