Raising the bar for vehicle body engineering
Deploy concept modeling and relate Body-in-White dynamic properties with trimmed body NVH performance
Vehicle body weight reduction has a spiraling impact on overall vehicle weight reduction: a lighter body results in a lighter chassis, requiring a smaller engine and less battery and/or fuel tank capacity. Driven by vehicle electrification and lightweighting strategies, automakers seek a balanced approach for body development as early as possible in the design.
This webinar explains how to raise the bar for vehicle body engineering, set body targets at the concept stage and at lower cost. To achieve these, Simcenter solutions use concept modeling, link trimmed body with body-in-white structures, and combine simulation and testing solutions.
Register to the vehicle body engineering webinar and find out how to:
- Understand how Body-in-White modes evolve when trim is applied
- Assess and optimize NVH performance at the concept phase
- Set targets at Body-in-White structures
- Gain insights into the static and dynamic global stiffness of a vehicle body
The presented vehicle body engineering approach will help OEMs comprehend the influence of added masses, optimize the impacted dynamic performance, and improve perceived NVH quality.
Drive design decisions using concept modeling
When designing lightweight vehicles, finding the right balance between conflicting functional performance characteristics is a challenging engineering task. Concept modeling is an engineering process that frontloads design decisions by analyzing the mechanisms behind. The concept modeling technique is used to train neural networks to enhance the link between trimmed body performance and body-in-white design.
Using road noise as an example, OEMs gain insights into the relationship between road noise and vehicle handling performance with concept modeling. Concept modeling empowers manufacturers to make balanced design decisions early on, saving costs and reducing time-to-market.
NVH target setting at Body-in-White level
Body NVH targets are typically set on the body-in-white structure, while its performance is evaluated on a trimmed body. Relating targets at both levels proves challenging and is traditionally based on experience or benchmark studies. But the advent of electrified and lightweight vehicles changed the rules of the game. Vehicle body engineering experts cannot rely on their frame of reference anymore.
Join the webinar and discover how to evaluate NVH performance on body-in-white structures, when the detailed geometry information has not yet become available. This approach enables you to optimize the NVH early in the design at a lower cost.
Shorten the design cycle by evaluating stiffness changes early on
To create a vehicle that meets all design criteria, vehicle body engineering experts study how stiffness changes influence the overall behavior. By applying conceptual stiffness modifications on a preliminary FE model, automakers can optimize critical performance aspects in earlier design phases.
The webinar will explain a stiffness optimization methodology to identify body global or body hard-point static stiffness properties. Using a ‘static from dynamic’ technique and link this with the Maximum Likelihood estimation of a Modal Model, or in short ‘MLMM’, manufacturers have a robust and objective approach to decompose the results into contributions from dynamic body properties.
Targeting vehicle body engineering experts
This webinar is designed for NVH, 3D CAE, and body engineering user communities, from experts to analysts, who seek solutions to meet targets at Body-in-White level while ensuring that the targets for the trimmed body are met. Technical profiles involved in electrification or lightweighting programs might equally benefit from the demonstrated solution.
Simcenter Engineering experts have successfully completed multiple vehicle body engineering projects. For example, they helped WorldAutoSteel to identify and analyze NVH problem areas for a FutureSteelVehicle project. As a result, WorldAutoSteel reduced body structure weight by 35%, demonstrating that steel technology is an excellent choice for meeting stringent body mass reduction targets and that frontloading NVH provides an early-stage benefit to platform concept design.
MSc in Mechanical Engineering, Technical Expert, Simcenter Engineering and Consulting services, Siemens Digital Industries Software
Stefano Orlando has been with Siemens Digital Industries Software for 12 years, working in various roles in the Engineering and Consulting services division. He is currently Technical Expert, responsible for developing and deploying new technologies related to car body concept design and NVH for e-powertrains.