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Computational cost plays a major role in the performance of scientific and engineering simulation. This in turn makes the virtual validation process complex and time consuming. In the simulation process, achievement of appropriate level of accurate models as close as physical testing is the root for increase in the computational cost. During preliminary phase of product development, it is difficult to identify the appropriate size, shape and other parameters of the component and they will undergo several modifications in concept and other stages. An approximation model called metamodel or surrogate model has developed for reducing these effects and minimizing the computational cost. Metamodel can be used in the place of actual simulation models. Metamodel can be an algorithm or a mathematical relation representing the relations between input and output parameters.

Strength and fatigue assessment of chassis components are essentially influenced by the material used and manufacturing processes chosen. The manufacturing process of chassis components decides the variation in the mechanical properties of the component, which has an impact on the strength/fatigue performance. Investigating the design concerning the manufacturing processes is vital to the industry. Standard computer aided engineering (CAE) procedures for validating the alloy wheels usually consider the material properties as homogeneous. There was a gap between test results and CAE durability prediction (as per standard procedure). Incorporating the manufacturing process related characteristics with the strength simulation will be a viable solution to reduce this gap. This study was intended at developing a procedure for the strength analysis of an alloy wheel by considering the manufacturing process.

The Los Angeles City Traffic (LACT) brake test is well known acclaimed procedure used by many vehicle manufacturers to assess the brake pad wear behavior and to investigate the Noise, Vibration and Harness (NVH) performance of the brake system. The LACT driving route consists of a set of real-world driving conditions, which has been considered representative of the US passenger vehicle market. The scope of this study is to mimic the LACT test using finite element analysis (FEA) to calculate the wear displacement based on Rhee’s theory. The Leading-edge and trailing edge of the brake pad’s wear tendency is also predicted from the simulation. The finite element model for wear simulation consists of brake system viz., Rotor, Knuckle, Pads, Anchor bracket, Piston, and Caliper.

The Brake judder is a low-level vibration caused due to Disc Thickness Variation (DTV), Temperature, Brake Torque Variation (BTV), thermal degradation, hotspot etc. which is a major concern for the past decades in automobile manufacturers. To predict the judder performance, the modelling methods are proposed in terms of frequency and BTV respectively. In this study, a mathematical model is constructed by considering full brake assembly, tie rod, coupling rod, steering column, and steering wheel as a spring mass system for identifying judder frequency. Simulation is also performed to predict the occurrence of brake judder and those results are validated with theoretical results. Similarly, for calculating BTV a separate methodology is proposed in CAE and validated with experimental and theoretical results.