There is an increasing demand for reducing vehicle development process and minimizing cost due to tough competition in Automotive market. One of the major focus areas is minimizing the vehicle proto build that are required for physical testing during vehicle development.
Tow hooks are key structural components for the vehicle, which are designed to withstand structural strength performance under various vehicles towing condition. Typical extreme load scenario for the vehicle can be towing fully loaded vehicle breaks down on uphill road or stuck in wet muddy condition. To exercise the tow hook structural development in early design phase, it is important to have reliable simulation process.
This paper focuses on development of virtual test simulation process that replicates the tow hook system test behavior for the operating load. The study includes the detail modeling of clevis load applicator, tow hook, bolt joint and attached test bed plate for capturing the load path. Study provides good prediction of material behavior and failure mode for both tow hook and bolt joint. This non-linear stress simulation study is performed using Abaqus solver.