Technical Paper
The Use of Increased Curvature to Reduce the Weight of Body Panels
1980-02-01
800370
Current trends in the automotive industry seem to be to use the minimum panel curvature that is possible, on the theory that a box provides the most space at the least weight. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the premise that increased curvature of body panels results in a net weight reduction, since the contribution of the increase in surface area is less than the reduced thickness resulting from the increased overall stiffness of panels with increased curvature. In assessing this concept, an expression has been developed for calculating the surface area as a function of panel curvature and panel size in two perpendicular directions. Using this relationship and previously published Chrysler work on the effect of these same two curvature and panel size variables on panel stiffness, an expression is developed for percent weight change at constant stiffness.