Simulation Driven Design and Meshless Numerical Method for Quality Feel Evaluation of Vehicle Panel Components

2025-36-0090

12/18/2025

Authors
Abstract
Content
The concept of “quality feel” in automotive interiors relates to how consumers perceive a product’s quality through touch and feel. While subjective, it’s crucial for satisfaction and differentiation and is defined by engineering requirements like displacement, especially for interior components. Assessing this early in development is vital. Traditionally, this evaluation happens virtually using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) simulations, which measure displacement and stiffness. However, conventional simulation methods, like Finite Element Method (FEM), can be time-consuming to set up. This work presents two case studies where the evaluation of an interior panel’s quality feel, using structural numerical simulations combined with the Simulation Driven Design (SDD) method was performed. SDD is an iterative process where simulation results guide design modifications, optimizing the component until it meets quality criteria, which are based on simulated human touch and resulting displacement. To make this process more efficient, the study utilized the Meshless method (specifically with Altair SimSolid) for simulations. This method requires less setup time compared to FEM, significantly reducing computational cost and time. The results showed that SDD is a fundamental method to utilize during product conceptualization, not only because it helps in optimization, but also help in finding CAD incoherences. Combined with that, the meshless method was able to bring this information in a fast pace, being an efficient support to FEA simulations. This efficiency enabled redesigned components that didn’t initially meet the quality feel requirements, successfully achieving the required criteria.
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Pages
8
Citation
Cunegatto, Eduardo Henrique Taube et al., "Simulation Driven Design and Meshless Numerical Method for Quality Feel Evaluation of Vehicle Panel Components," SAE Technical Paper 2025-36-0090, 2025-, .
Additional Details
Publisher
Published
Dec 18
Product Code
2025-36-0090
Content Type
Technical Paper
Language
English