Structural and Dynamic Problems in Car Body Design

The body of a vehicle is a very complex structure. Usually, it consists of thin-walled beams, characterized by an appropriate section shape, and thin shells properly drawn in order to obtain the selected body shape. As an example of a recent car body it includes: body frame structure, panels, lateral doors, back door, and motor compartment hood. Steel in sheets, with a relatively large, and further increasing, variety of steel types available today, is a much utilized material for car body construction. Recently, other materials, both metallic and plastic, are also widely used, with an increasing percentage, mainly due to the lightweight requirements for new vehicles. The body structure is designed to play a number of different functions, of great relevance for the product quality, that is, for those vehicle characteristics that a customer will consider carefully when he/she decides to buy a vehicle.