Balancing demands on crashworthiness, structural dynamics and weight reduction for the new BMW 5-series by using virtual prototyping processes

Today, cost-effective functional light-weight design is the most significant parameter value within the development of modern vehicle structures. The quality of various vehicle properties is dominated by the functionality of the body-in-white component. Generally, the vehicle dimensions and functional demands increase from one generation to the next. Nevertheless - in the case of BMW model ranges - the fractional amount of the body structure on kerb weight was able to be decreased continuously, taking the particular predecessor as reference. Apart from an appropriate choice of materials, optimized development processes are primarily responsible for this.