Impact Fracture of Jointed Steel Plates of Bolted Joint of Cars

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the development of a fracture criterion for the impact fracture of jointed steel plates of a lap bolted joint used in the suspension parts of a car body. For the accurate prediction of crash characteristics of car bodies by computer-aided engineering (CAE), it is also necessary to examine the behaviour and fracture of the jointed steel plates subjected to impact loads. Although the actual impact fracture of jointed steel plates of a lap bolted joint in cars is complicated, for simplifying it is classified into the shear fracture and the extractive fracture of jointed steel plates. Three kinds of steel plates, i.e., common steel with the tensile strength of 270 MPa and two high tensile strength steels with the tensile strength of 440 and 590 MPa level used for vehicles, are examined. In the impact shear test, the specimens are made of two plates and jointed by a bolt, and in the impact extractive test the specimens are made of a plate and drilled in the centre for a bolt. The impact shear test of jointed steel plates of lap bolted joints is performed using a modified split Hopkinson bar apparatus, while the impact extractive one is performed using one-bar method. Numerical simulations by a FEM code LS-DYNA are also carried out in order to understand the mechanism of shearing and extractive fractures process of jointed steel plates. The obtained results suggest that a stress-based fracture criterion may be developed for the impact shearing and extractive fractures of jointed steel plates of lap bolted joints used in a car body.