Abstract: By adding failure criterion on welding spots in CAE model, the difficulty in accurately predicting welding spot failure during vehicle crash simulation with finite element analysis is overcome. Welding spot failure criteria are set up based on welding spot failure parameters obtained from the mechanical performance test of welding spots, and the effectiveness of welding spot failure criteria is verified by comparing the results of simulation and test on multi-welding-spot components. The results show that adding failure criterion on welding spots can truly reflect the loading and failure conditions of welding spots. Then the prediction on welding spot failure is conducted on vehicle crash model and is compared with the results of real-vehicle crash test. The outcomes indicate that the method adopted can accurately predict the welding spot failure situation in real vehicle crash, having guiding significance for the crash safety design of vehicle

Key words: welding spot failure, crash simulation, vehicle safety