French Door Open/Close Durability Evaluation by Multibody Dynamics Method 2012-01-0758

A method including Multi-Body Dynamics (MBD) and fatigue assessment process with modal approach was developed to predict Light Commercial Van (LCV) Rear French Doors open/close durability performance during early design stage to improve test detect ability. The nonlinear properties of joints, such as those on bolted housings or spot welds sheets and hem flange areas, can substantially influence the local and global results of a dynamic simulation. The Modal approach considers joint contact, by way of Joint Interface Modes (JIMs) by using Contact Subroutine (MAMBA) to co-simulate with MBD software to improve result quality. One of the main challenges is measuring the dynamic stiffness for the weather strip. A novel test method was used to measure the weather strip dynamic stiffness by conducting an “in-situ” test. For CAE simulation results, positive feedback was received from design and test engineers.