In swing door design, the check strap plays an important role since it assists the door opening and closing maneuvers and stops the door in case of extra opening events. Computer-Aided-Engineering is extensively used to simulate door opening and closing events for designing the door structure in terms of durability performance and closing effort. However, in customer perspective, other phenomena related to check strap subsystem need to be investigated, as the onset of door vibration in opening and closing phase.
This paper describes a methodology, based on the Finite Element approach, able to simulate the opening and closing maneuver of a swing door, including detailed check strap mechanism through a sequential implicit-explicit strategy. Such methodology can reproduce in virtual door vibrations caused by check strap operation.
Since this oscillatory phenomenon could be potentially unacceptable in terms of perceived quality, a component optimization may be necessary. The methodology described in this paper allows identifying the key parameters (spring stiffness/preload, check link shape) that play a role in reducing the amplitude of door oscillation. Moreover, it can be easily used to verify the basic functionality constraint of this component: the capability to stop the door in specific conditions, when the vehicle is parked on a grade or a side step. The sensitivity analysis and the subsequent component optimization conducted on an A-segment vehicle door check strap are reported, including a comparison of experimental and numerical results.