Condensed joint matrix method for the joint structure of a vehicle body

It is often necessary that the joint characteristics should be determined in the early stage of a vehicle body design. Until recently, much research has been carried out to identify the joint characteristics in a vehicle body. In this study, the joint characteristics of a vehicle structure were expressed as the condensed matrix forms from the full joint stiffness matrix. The condensed joint stiffness matrix was applied to typical T-type and corner-type joints, and practical applications, such as the real centre pillar and vehicle body structure, are examined by using the proposed method. In addition, it was applied to the real centre pillar model and the full vehicle body in order to validate the practical application.