BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGIES FOR VIRTUAL PROTOTYPING IN THE PRODUCT CREATION PROCESS OF AUTOMOTIVE STRUCTURES

Abstract

The pressures on product innovation and at the same time product customization and cost control are the key drivers for today’s vehicle development process. The requirement to develop multiple innovative body variants for each new vehicle platform while shortening the overall time-to-market, puts body development on the critical path in the vehicle development process. This paper discusses a number of new technologies that support such approach in relation to NVH . Morphing the FE mesh of a predecessor model enables the analyst to formulate design recommendations in the concept phase. Model reduction techniques shorten calculation time, enabling more modifications to be evaluated. A first approach is based on a modal projection of the modifications. The second one is based on wave-based substructuring and allows implementing large modifications in a very efficient way. A process is presented and illustrated using industrial examples.