Validated virtual testing

DaimlerChrysler and MTS Systems have verified that component load histories can be predicted before prototypes are built.

The goal of every automobile manufacturer is to refine a design to a high level of maturity at an early stage in the development process to reduce time-to-market and use fewer physical prototypes. The challenge is evaluating and improving the vehicle using analytical predictions early in the design phase when physical prototypes are not yet available. This approach, often called frontloading, is highly stressed at DaimlerChrysler. Increases in computing power and improvements in the predictive capabilities of simulation software provide an enormous opportunity. However, most component optimization efforts have to be delayed until prototypes have been built and tested, to get the load-time histories required for accurate dynamic finite-element analysis (FEA) and fatigue-life predictions.