A Technique for Connecting Beam Elements to a Plate Model of a Complicated Box Section

In automobile structures some box sections cannot be adequately defined using beam finite elements. These sections require detailed plate models to represent holes and rapid changes in cross sections. Complications arise in connecting these detailed sections to those sections that can be adequately defined using beam elements. This paper shows one technique for connecting the two sections together. An example of this technique is demonstrated on a section of an automobile frame, and the results are compared to experimental data.