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The B-pillar is an important load carrying component of any automobile body. It is a primary support structure for the roof, and is typically a thin-walled, spot-welded, closed-section structure made from high strength steels. As part of the validation process, the B-pillar can be ex-perimentally loaded at quasi-static rates until failure†. The force and displacement of the impactor are measured to get valuable insight into the stiffness characteristics of the structure.

During product development, design engineers often have the freedom to modify a number of parameters. However, any design modification requires validation to ensure the satisfaction of requirements for all load cases. With Abaqus for CATIA V5 (AFC), nonlinear finite element technology is made available within the CATIA environment, allowing design engineers to efficiently incorporate accurate stress analysis into the design process. In this Technology Brief two approaches are described to illustrate the productivity gains possible with AFC.

This technology brief illustrates typical mode-based noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) analyses of a full automobile model using the Abaqus product suite. Abaqus/AMS, the automatic multi-level substructuring eigensolver, is used to compute the eigensolution. A steady-state dynamic analysis is then performed in Abaqus/Standard. The significant performance benefit of using Abaqus/AMS and the SIM-based linear dynamics architecture will be demonstrated for uncoupled structural and coupled structural-acoustic analyses.

A methodology to study the sound radiation of engine valve covers is presented. The analysis process uses a nonlinear static simulation followed by a steady state dy-namics simulation to determine the sound pressure field due to the vibration of the engine cover. The effects of assembly loads are included. The methodology is dem-onstrated with two representative engine valve covers using acoustic finite and/or infinite element methods. Good correlation between the analysis results and avail-able experimental data is achieved.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) mandates the use of certain test procedures to determine automobile roof crush resistance. In the test the force-deflection behavior of the roof structure is meas-ured by quasi-statically pressing a precisely positioned rigid plate against the automobile. As part of the design process, the test is often simulated analytically. As with many quasi-static processes, the roof crush resis-tance test can be simulated in Abaqus/Standard or Abaqus/Explicit.

A methodology to study friction-induced squeal in a com-plete automotive disc brake assembly is presented. The analysis process uses a nonlinear static simulation se-quence followed by a complex eigenvalue extraction to determine the dynamic instabilities that are manifested as unwanted noise. The effects of assembly loads; nonuni-form contact pressure between the brake linings and disc; velocity-, temperature-, and pressure-dependent friction coefficients; friction-induced damping; and lining wear can be included. The methodology is demonstrated with a representative disc brake assembly.

Spot-welded, thin-walled curved beams, which constitute the main structural members in many automobile and other ground vehicle body structures, play a significant role in absorbing energy during a collision. Due to their extensive use, it is important to study the collapse charac-teristics of these curved members (Ref. 1). Abaqus/Explicit can be used effectively to simulate the quasi-static collapse of spot-welded structural members accu-rately.

A wide range of loading conditions must be considered in the design of a tire. Computational simulations of a quasi-static, steady-state dynamic and nonlinear transient dy-namic nature must be completed. In addition, the com-plexity and size of typical tire models highlight the need for efficient solution techniques.

Spudcans are conical footings used as foundations for offshore platforms. Installation in soft marine soil forces them deeply into the seabed, inducing gross motion and severe plastic deformation in the soil. A pure Lagrangian-based finite element approach for modeling spudcan installation and extraction can be very difficult. Because the mesh moves with the material, ele-ment distortion typically accompanies severe deformation and convergence difficulties follow.

On August 1, 2007, the I-35W highway bridge over the Mississippi river in Minneapolis, MN collapsed. The sub-sequent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation identified the U10W truss node as a likely initiation site for the failure. (Bridge main truss nodes were numbered from the south starting at 0. U indicates a node along the upper chord, and L indicates a node along the lower chord. E and W indicate a node on the east or west truss) [1, 2, 3].