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CAVS

Mission

CAVS is an interdisciplinary center. It provides engineering, research, development, and technology transfer teams focused on complex problems, such as those encountered in technologies designed to improve human mobility. The development efforts provide short-term solutions relevant to regional manufacturers while the core research builds longer-term knowledge needed for sustained economic development. At the same time students gain valuable project experience that compliments their formal classroom learning.

Spotlight on Research

Resistance spot welding is a common joining process used in automotive manufacturing, with thousands of spot welds in a single vehicle. When simulating the behavior of a vehicle under crash conditions, the mechanical behavior of the spot welds under the dynamic loading must be incorporated. Currently spot welds are simulated using a weld element based on a simple beam theory, and a next generation spot weld element is needed in which details of the welding process and the metallurgy of the parent material are reflected.

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We envision developing a next generation weld element for simulating a resistance welded joint under impact loading and assessing the applicability of this new technology for impact simulations using lightweight alloys.

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A detailed finite element model will be developed and used to predict the strength of a spot weld under high strain rate loading (right).

CAVS Extension currently has the capability to perform resistance spot welding experiments (left).


Past Spotlights

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