Identification of Local Elasto-Plastic Properties in Multi-Material Thin Aluminum Welded Structures through Experimental Methods, Modeling, and AI
Abstract
The growing development of soft mobility, especially electrically power assisted cycles ( EPAC), is leading to more complex frame geometry and greater loads. Therefore, the aim of this study, conducted in collaboration with Decathlon, is to enhance the understanding and simulation of the fatigue life of aluminium bike frames. The study specifically focuses on tube welding, a favoured crack initiation area. Scientifically, the challenges are centred on the emergence of a property gradient, multi-axial loading, and the thin tubular nature of the concerned areas. Firstly, to simplify the problem and overcome the difficulties associated to the geometry of bikes frame, micro-tensile tests instrumented by stereoscopic image correlation were carried out on flats shaped specimens to identify the constitutive laws in the different zones of interest close to the welded area. The instrumentation of these tests is based on stereoscopic image correlation, initially allowing access to in plan and out of plan displacement fields on the surface and subsequently, access to information related to the topology of the weld beads. The study of these kinematic fields has enabled the identification of areas of interest and the recalibration of material properties based on a representative numerical model. The identified material models show a 15% decrease in yield strength and a 31% increase in tangent modulus in the weld zone compared to the base metal, highlighting the necessity of zone-specific modelling.
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BibTeX
@article{thibault2026identification,
title = {{Identification of Local Elasto-Plastic Properties in Multi-Material Thin Aluminum Welded Structures through Experimental Methods, Modeling, and AI}},
author = {Arthur Thibault and Théo Dobrossy and Jean-François Witz and Gilles Lagante and Antoine Millecamps and Ahmed El Bartali and Vincent Magnier},
journal = {Procedia Structural Integrity},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.prostr.2025.11.051},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05785668v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Identification of Local Elasto-Plastic Properties in Multi-Material Thin Aluminum Welded Structures through Experimental Methods, Modeling, and AI
AU - Arthur Thibault
AU - Théo Dobrossy
AU - Jean-François Witz
AU - Gilles Lagante
AU - Antoine Millecamps
AU - Ahmed El Bartali
AU - Vincent Magnier
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Procedia Structural Integrity
DO - 10.1016/j.prostr.2025.11.051
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05785668v1
AB - The growing development of soft mobility, especially electrically power assisted cycles ( EPAC), is leading to more complex frame geometry and greater loads. Therefore, the aim of this study, conducted in collaboration with Decathlon, is to enhance the understanding and simulation of the fatigue life of aluminium bike frames. The study specifically focuses on tube welding, a favoured crack initiation area. Scientifically, the challenges are centred on the emergence of a property gradient, multi-axial loading, and the thin tubular nature of the concerned areas. Firstly, to simplify the problem and overcome the difficulties associated to the geometry of bikes frame, micro-tensile tests instrumented by stereoscopic image correlation were carried out on flats shaped specimens to identify the constitutive laws in the different zones of interest close to the welded area. The instrumentation of these tests is based on stereoscopic image correlation, initially allowing access to in plan and out of plan displacement fields on the surface and subsequently, access to information related to the topology of the weld beads. The study of these kinematic fields has enabled the identification of areas of interest and the recalibration of material properties based on a representative numerical model. The identified material models show a 15% decrease in yield strength and a 31% increase in tangent modulus in the weld zone compared to the base metal, highlighting the necessity of zone-specific modelling.
SN - 2452-3216
ER -