Efficient Computation of Joint Interface Modes

Recently proposed joint interface modes (JIMs) do consider Newton’s 3rd law across a joint already at the stage of mode generation which leads to significant improvements in the subsequent mode based computation. The first approach for the computation of JIMs is based on a Guyan reduction of the structures degrees of freedom (DOFs) to the joint DOFs. This is, however, a drawback in case of large structures with interfaces like car bodies with spot welded seams. In this contribution, a new and highly efficient method for the computation of JIMs is proposed. The method avoids a Guyan reduction at all and is based on efficient static force response computations. It is demonstrated that the computational effort of the proposed method is significantly smaller than for the original method, even though the same JIMs can be computed.