Effect of Temperature and Thickness of the Weld Bead on the Durability of Welded Rectangular Profiles under Damped Loads for Electrical Vehicles Utilization

Currently, the electric vehicle has a lot of advantages. It is considered as the mean of transport of the future because of its mode of operation which participates in the resolution of energy and environmental problems. The structures used in the electric vehicle are assembled by the welding process, and the use of lightweight mechanical structures is important to reduce energy consumption. This design constraint requires a careful study of the structure of the chassis in order to achieve adequate optimization. In this paper, the objective is to study the fatigue phenomenon produced by a repeated loadings, we should take into account the major parameters and factors that can influence to fatigue strength such as: the detail of geometry, the temperature, the microstructure of the weld metal and heat-affected zone, the material elasticity and the structural environment. A three-dimensional finite element simulation were developed in order to calculate the stress, the total deformation and to estimate the fatigue strength of our structure based on welded rectangular profiles under damped loads for automotive utilization. The results of static and fatigue study indicated the fatigue sensitivity and the hysteresis curve. The effect of the magnitude in the thermal condition and the thickness of the weld bead on the structure durability were investigated by our model. We have shown that we can optimize the thickness of the weld bead while guaranteeing acceptable durability.