Joint Interface Modes: Numerical 3D-Benchmark Studies

The mechanical characteristics of complex elastic structures, which are assembled of substructures, are significantly influenced by the local and nonlinear constitutive behavior of the involved joints, like bolted joints, spot welded seems and others. Computations of jointed structures, which are based on classical modes, lead to an inefficient balance between computational time and accuracy. Either the joint properties are considered and linearized at the time of the mode generation, which is inaccurate, or a huge number of master nodes are required, which lead to an inefficient time integration. Recently proposed joint interface modes (JIMs), which have been presented at the IMAC 25th [1], are able to overcome that problem. Based on JIMs it is possible to perform mode based dynamic computations of jointed elastic structures utilizing local and nonlinear contact and friction models. This approach is characterized by almost the same accuracy as the full finite element method without loosing the efficiency of modal computation. This paper contains two subsections: First kinematical considerations concerning jointed structures will be discussed and afterwards, some numerical benchmark studies are presented in order to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of JIMs.