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The paper describes a method of developing generic “stick” models (beam only finite element models) of vehicle structures. The EAL program is used to create two- and four-door generic models through a capability for specifying geometry by assigning dimensions of a vehicle structure. A description is given for elastic analyses, the steps of sensitivity analyses and the test setup for measuring bending and torsional stiffness of a body-in-white structure. The analysis results are shown to be in good agreement with the test data for the overall bending and torsional stiffness. Sensitivity coefficients of the total strain energy are computed using the forward finite diference scheme.

We present a geometrically exact isogeometric blended shell formulation. In other words, all geometric quantities appearing in the blended theory are evaluated exactly and no approximations are employed. The blended approach allows higher-order shell theories, like Kirchhoff-Love, to be combined with Reissner-Mindlin shell formulations, which have rotational degrees of freedom. In this way, rotations can be employed only where needed to simplify shell modeling such as at kinks and intersections. Away from these regions shear locking free formulations can be employed to improve robustness, accuracy, and efficiency. We compare our approach to standard shell elements commonly used in industry on several benchmarks to explore the behavior of the element. We then model an inner car hood to demonstrate our ability to handle complex CAD geometry in a simple manner without geometry cleanup and mesh generation steps.