Designing More Durable Automotive Body Structures Using Plastic Models and Damage Analysis

Half scale plastic models and strain based, cumulative damage analysis techniques were combined in the 1980 ‘X’ compact car project at General Motors Corporation to provide a design tool to more accurately predict areas on a body structure that would require design refinement for durability. To make these techniques effective required the development and application of: plastic model build and test methods, loads, material properties and methods of analysis. Plastic models and cumulative damage analysis have contributed significantly to the durability of the 1980 ‘X’ car light weight structure and are becoming standard structural analysis tools.