Virtual Simulation of Door Slam Test, Study of Relative Sensitive Parameters and Correlation with Physical Test

Door slam test is one of the important durability tests in door design and development. Door requires to meet certain performance requirements like it should close properly (no metal to metal contact), there should not be any leakage, and closing operation should be smooth & with minimal effort and it should survive the life of the vehicle. Virtual simulation of door slam test, correlation with physical test results and effect of various parameters like seals stiffness are demonstrated in this study. Slam Analysis was carried out in LS-Dyna solver before physical test. This not only helped in avoiding initial structural design flaws, but also helped us in deciding door latch position, effect of mass distribution in the door and study of force distribution between primary seal, secondary seal and door latch. Primary and secondary seals played a critical role in the analysis. An intended length of both the seals was tested first to get its stiffness curve. Then it was modeled in the way that stiffness of one beam represented the stiffness of testing length. An in-house developed physical test was carried out for the intended cycles. A good correlation between simulation and test results is achieved. Overall detailed study of door slam test, simulation methodology and effect of various relative parameters on performance has become very important step in design and development of door assembly.