Door closing velocity (DCV) is one of the important design parameter for door durability performance. The closing velocity varies with the design parameters and physical properties of the door. The variation in door closing effort may increase or decrease the durability of the door and body components, this can be a concern when the overall vehicle durability performance is considered.
This paper gives a mathematical model to calculate the door closing effort accounting the energy sink from various door design parameters such as door seal, latch, hinge, door weight, checkstrap and cabin-pressure. In addition to this, the MS-Excel based computation tool has been developed, which aims to calculate the door closing velocity and energy contribution from each design parameter. This tool is very interactive and effective for durability engineer and helps in improving the quality of vehicle door design.
This paper also provides the result comparison study with CAE approach for design parameters as seal stiffness, latch, hinge, door weight and checkstrap.