Determining torsional and flexural stiffnes in car bodies

Despite the existence of mature theoretical computational techniques in the development of car bodies for passenger vehicles, experimental testing of the actual behavior cannot be abandoned.

Despite the existence of mature theoretical computational techniques in the development of car bodies for passenger vehicles, experimental testing of the actual behavior cannot be abandoned. This testing provides the boundary values necessary for computational formulations and is necessary in safety performance testing.

Stiffness testing for the determination of the deformation behavior of the car under specified loads plays a special roll in this process. The following article reports on stiffness measurements on car bodies, which were carried out with bending and torsional loads using a large number of inductive displacement transducers. A multipoint measuring unit in combination with a computer enabled rapid transformation of the measured results into constructive optimization measures regarding stiffness, weight, and design.