Correlation of Explicit Finite Element Road Load Calculations for Vehicle Durability Simulations

Durability of automotive structures is a primary engineering consideration that is evaluated during a vehicle's design and development. In addition, it is a basic expectation of consumers, who demand ever-increasing levels of quality and dependability.

Automakers have developed corporate requirements for vehicle system durability which must be met before a products is delivered to the customer. To provide early predictions of vehicle durability, prior to the construction and testing of prototypes, it is necessary to predict the forces generated in the vehicle structure due to road inputs.

This paper describes an application of the “virtual proving ground” approach for vehicle durability load prediction for a vehicle on proving ground road surfaces. Correlation of the results of such a series of simulations will be described, and the modeling and simulation requirements to provide accurate simulations will be presented.