The noise of interior plastic parts has been one of the major driving factors in the design of automotive interior assemblies. This phenomenon is one of the major contributors to the perceived quality in a vehicle. The noise is caused by interior plastic parts and other parts as a result of permanent deformation. Traditionally, noise issues have been identified and rectified through extensive hardware testing. However, to reduce the product development cycle and minimize the number of costly hardware builds, hardware testing must rely on engineering analysis and upfront simulation in the design cycle.
In this paper, an analytical study to reduce permanent deformation in a cockpit module is presented. The analytical investigation utilizes a novel and practical methodology, which is implemented through the software tools, ABAQUS and iSight, for the identification and minimization of permanent deformation. Here, the emphasis is on evaluating the software for issues relating to the prediction of permanent deformation.
The analytical results are compared with the experimental findings for two types of deformation location and the qualitative correlation is found to be very good. In this study, we also develop a methodology to design the guide and mount location of cockpit module for minimizing the permanent deformation. Nonlinear finite element analysis has been implemented and integrated with sensitivity-analysis techniques to minimize the permanent deformation at the areas of interest. Finally, we find the optimal guide and mount locations that reduce the permanent deformation.
