Abstract
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) has been successfully used in many mechanical industries such as automotive industries. However, most mechanical designers, in fact, cannot utilize CAE applications by themselves because of the sophisticated operations and a huge amount of time for the analysis. Recently, the concept of a new CAE, First Order Analysis (FOA), has been proposed in order to overcome these problems. This paper presents the method to support the conceptual designs using simplified model corresponding to the concept of FOA. First, thin-walled square hallow section T-joint model consideration of corner R on joint-section is introduced. Next, a procedure for determining the stiffness of joint-section is proposed, and the derived expression is presented. Finally, some examples are provided to confirm the method proposed here.
