Structural Design Changes as a Solution to a Resonance Fatigue Problem of a Sports Car

Optimal design changes to solve vibration induced fatigue failures can only be derived by including structural dynamics considerations into the fatigue lifetime calculation process. Such an integrated design approach to resonance fatigue problems has been developed within the EC Esprit Project 2486 DYNAMO. Also an integration of crack initiation and crack growth calculations has been realised. This integrated dynamic analysis/fatigue analysis procedure is demonstrated in the paper by means of a resonance fatigue problem of a car.