On the Accuracy of CAE Structural Simulations in Automotive Plastics Component Design

With years of experience in applying CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering) tools in different automotive plastics component design analyses, authors try to define the accuracy of CAE simulations through three carefully selected case studies: natural frequency prediction, vibration stress calculation, and fatigue analysis. The first case study demonstrates that CAE is able to achieve great accuracy in predicting structural global properties such as natural frequency. The second case shows that CAE results do not correlate so well for the predictions of local properties such as vibration induced stress or strain response, while the third one indicates that CAE predictions on A to B comparison is always accurate even in the case of fatigue life prediction, that is known as a difficult task.

Therefore, the CAE global property predictions should weigh heavier in plastic component design evaluation than on the local ones. A to B comparison is always preferred whenever the local property prediction is needed. Whenever to interpret the CAE stress or strain predictions becomes necessary, extra care has to be exercised to avoid potentially misleading the product design.