Crash Prediction for Marine Engine Systems Presented at the 2008 Abaqus Users’ Conference

Mercury Marine outboards, engines, and drives are designed to withstand indoor impact testing (called “logstrike”) that simulates a collision with an underwater object. This test is comprised of an outboard or sterndrive device mounted on a mock boat that collides with a simulated log.
Many parts are designed with the arduous logstrike test in mind. However, it is difficult to approximate the loads each part experiences during logstrike because of the complex and dynamic nature of the event. For this reason Mercury Marine R&D created a project to develop a capability for predicting the motion and loads of a logstrike event. A staged approach consisting of progressively sophisticated Abaqus/Explicit numerical simulations, validated by physical testing, was used to work towards successful simulation of the full logstrike event. This newly developed method is beginning to support product development programs and assist Mercury Marine engineers in designing components with more knowledge about the loads they must withstand. The method also enables the evaluation of designs without the need for physical parts. This provides the opportunity for better product integrity with reduced design time.