Closure Slam CAE Method Investigation for Automobiles

In the current scenario, the major thrust is to simulate the customer usage pattern and lab test using virtual simulation methods. Going ahead, prime importance will be to reduce the number of soft tool prototype for all tests which can be predicted in CAE. Automotive door slam test is significantly complex in terms of prediction through simulation. Current work focuses on simulating the slam event and deriving load histories at different mounting locations through dynamic analysis using LSDyna. These extracted load histories are applied to trimmed door Nastran model and modal transient analysis is performed to find the transient stress history. This approach has a significant advantage of less computation time and stress-convergence with Nastran for performing multiple design iterations compared to LSDyna. Good failure correlation is achieved with the test using this approach. Using these load histories, design improvements are evaluated and robustness of the approach is validated. An attempt is made to extract load histories using virtual mule in LSDyna. So, at an early stage in a project, using the only hinge and latch CAD location with closure mass, inertia and center of gravity, the load histories can be extracted and design improvement can be evaluated. Detailed analysis of predicting over-slam through simulation and effect of the position of glass on strain at different locations is highlighted.