Betriebsfestigkeit in Germany — an overview

The German word “Betriebsfestigkeit” can be translated into English with several terms. The best expression seems to be structural durability or structural integrity. This article gives a brief description of the efforts taken especially by the German automotive industry and its cooperating research institutes to improve the accuracy of life time prediction and to optimise the proof-out by usage of experimental and numerical procedures. The advantages of standardised load–time histories (SLHs) for the user particularly in the pre design stage are shown and an overview of the existing SLHs is given. At the end of the article some aspects of practical applications of “Betriebsfestigkeit” in the German automotive industry are presented.