Abstract: Adhesively bonded technology process applied in a car body is useful to make the car body lighter.
This paper contrasts and analyzes the crashworthiness of the front longitudinal beam of a real car under crash
loading for three connection models of spot-welded, adhesively bonded and bonded-welded styles using a finite
element model to meet the crashworthiness normal requirements and evaluating indicators for front longitudinal
beams. The deformations were calculated under different crash velocities. The results show that the longitudinal
direction equivalent stiffness of adhesive connection is higher than that of spot weld in low-speed (3.3 m/s)
collision and lower in high-speed (13.2 m/s) collision. Connection modes have very little influence on the
performance of the front longitudinal beams when connection loses efficacy in small scope.

Key words: automotive safety, front longitudinal beam, crashworthiness, adhesively bonded, bonded-welded