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A brief description of part creation on the computer by solids is presented. The capabilities, use, and benefits of this method in the product development cycle is given. Solid modeling as the basis for downstream C A E work and specific examples are discussed.

The scope of Finite Element Analysis in the Product Development Cycle is given. A brief review of the development process is given. A brief description of the analysis method is presented. A description of how it works, how is it implemented, and where do I use it are included. The entire range of questions are answered through, how do I train for it, how do I manage it, along with what are the limitations and what are the benefits of this analysis method.

Brake related warranty costs are a major concern to the automotive industry. Large part of these costs are due to noise, more particularly due to the brake squeal complaints. Computer-aided engineering solutions have attracted a lot of attention from the engineering and development community for more effective brake product development. Recently, three brake squeal analysis methods were implemented on disc type brakes in a vehicle program at Ford. This paper summarizes the results and documents the experience obtained during implementation in the vehicle CAE process.

Automotive product development requires higher degree of quality upfront engineering, faster CAE turn-around, and integration with other functional requirements. Prediction of potential durability concerns using analytical methods for sheet metal structures subjected to road loads and other customer uses has become very important. A process has been developed to provide design direction based upon peak loads, simultaneous peak loads, and vehicle program analytical or measured loads. It identifies critical loads at each input location and load sets for multiple input locations, filters load time histories, selects critical areas and analyzes for fatigue life. Several case studies have been completed. The results show that the variations are consistent with the accuracies in finite element analysis, road load data acquisition, and fatigue calculation methods.

Chrysler is a company run by automotive enthusiasts, and its motorsports programs are an integral part of the company's corporate, brand, and product development process. Chrysler's motorsports programs are executed from within its Platform Team system by the same engineers, using the same processes and facilities as production vehicle programs. This results in teaching and inspiring engineers, designers, and technicians, as well as providing genuine technical benefits to the company. This paper tells the “how” story of the design, build, and test of the Dodge Stratus Super Touring Car. Detailed results have been purposely omitted from the paper due to the competitive nature of motor racing.

A driving simulator development project at the Systems Engineering and Technical Process Center (SE/TP) is exploring the role of driving simulation in the vehicle design process. The simulator provides two vehicle mockup testing arenas that support a wide field of view, computer-generated image of the road scene which dynamically responds to driver commands as a function of programmable vehicle model parameters. Two unique aspects of the simulator are the fast 65 ms response time and low incidence rate of simulator induced syndrome (about 5%). Preliminary model validation results and data comparing driver performance in a vehicle vs. the simulator indicate accurate handling response dynamics within the on-center handling region (<0.3g lateral acceleration). Applications have included supporting the development of new steering system concepts, as well as evaluating the usability of vehicle controls and displays.

Vehicle target setting is an evolving process based on continually changing internal (management, standards) and external (competitive and legal) requirements. In addition to evolving requirements, the process for establishing and documenting targets may not be clear. The objective of this paper is to detail the overall process of target setting, the critical factors to consider, and key definitions for each stage of the process. It will describe the complete process from early competitive benchmarking to final verification testing. Setting targets for a vehicle requires definition and thorough benchmarking of the competition, an understanding of the key attributes used to describe the vehicles' performance, and a clearly defined set of requirements. These requirements will be regulatory, corporate and competitively based and grouped by clearly defined, customer perceived attributes which can be cascaded to specific vehicle systems.

At a time where customer preference is becoming an important product development criteria, measures which quantify subjectively perceived auditory sensations are becoming useful in developing meaningful sound quality criteria. One proposed measure which has not yet seen a great deal of application to automotive sounds is that which attempts to quantify the sensation of roughness. The applicability of such a proposed measure can be established through a series of subjective experiments. Typically, such experiments involve the presentation and evaluation of a group of sounds which vary in their degree of roughness. In order to generate test sounds, a system for the modeling and synthesis of pawertrain sound has been developed which isolates specific signal components which are known to affect the roughness of a sound.

Ford Motor Company has established within its global Ford Product Development System (FPDS), a vehicle product system which strives to maximize recyclability and recoverability while minimizing the total environmental impact of vehicles. One aspect of how the automotive industry can move towards sustainability is to include sustainable materials like recycled and natural materials in its products as well as in its manufacturing process. Additional examples of using materials imparting low life cycle impact exist in both in the US and Europe. By introducing sustainable materials in mass production, huge figures for reducing environmental burdens result, for example, worldwide 140 million pounds of recycled non-metalic materials have been used just for Ford vehicles alone.

An automotive cockpit module is a complex assembly, which consists of components and sub-systems. The critical systems in the cockpit module are the instrument panel (IP), the floor console, and door trim assemblies, which consist of many plastic trims. Stiffness is one of the most important parameters for the plastic trims' design, and it should be optimum to meet all the three functional requirements of safety, vibration and durability. This paper presents how the CAE application and various other techniques are used efficiently to predict the stiffness, and the strength of automotive cockpit systems, which will reduce the product development cycle time and cost. The implicit solver is used for the most of the stiffness analysis, and the explicit techniques are used in highly non-linear situations. This paper also shows the correlations of the CAE results and the physical test results, which will give more confidence in product design and reduce the cost of prototype testing.

Within automotive OEM's, there has been increasing reliance on vehicle system modeling for: Successful implementation of new system level technologies; Meeting the quality and efficiency demands of shorter product development cycles; and Enabling more analytical optimization of hardware and software systems. Ensuring high efficiency and quality of system engineering work reliant on vehicle system modeling requires enabling enterprise wide model sharing, highly coordinated cross-functional model development efforts and standard methods and processes. This paper discusses key elements and requirements of standard methods and processes for vehicle system modeling. First, obstacles to wider reliance on system modeling within current system engineering processes are described. Then a discussion is presented of model specifications as a central element in enabling more of a model driven vehicle system engineering process.

Simultaneous engineering methods are being used in automotive engineering. A brief explanation of the method and benefits are presented. Merging the methodology with new organizational structures provides greater advantages. A discussion of the benefits and future directions are presented.

The selection process of key engine design variables to maximize peak power subject to fuel economy and packaging objectives is formulated as an optimization problem readily solved with nonlinear programming. The merit of this approach lies not in finding a single optimal engine, but in identifying a family of optimal designs dependent on parameter changes in the constraint set. Sensitivity analysis of the optimum to packaging parameters, fuel economy parameters, and manufacturing parameters is presented and discussed in the context of product development decisions.

This paper describes the steps utilized in the development of the Flex Fuel program by the Ford South America Product Development team to implement a reliability plan. A reliability plan, understood as series of tools to avoid failure mode occurrence, is particularly important when introducing a new technology. Robustness, as the ability of a system to perform its intended function in the presence of variable operational conditions, is contained in the reliability concept and is a key aspect of this plan. Several factors that could affect the vehicle performance were listed, classified and prioritized in order to establish a preventive action plan. The tools were used first at the vehicle level, and then cascaded down to subsystem and component level. Also, with the results of this analysis, design verification methods were enhanced to capture real world usage conditions.

This paper describes the ride and handling development process used for the 1997 Corvette. Three levels of suspension are available for the 1997 Corvette: base (FE1), sport (FE3) and RTD or Real Time Damping (F45) suspensions. All suspensions will be discussed in this paper A review of the development and vehicle integration tradeoffs for each of the specific chassis components is included. Control arm bushings, springs, jounce bumpers, anti-roll bars and insulators, tires, shock mounts, shock absorber valving, real-time damping, steering development, alignment and measurements are discussed.

There are important changes unfolding in domestic industry. In the face of increased competition and the reality that traditional practices are no longer sufficient, manufacturers are taking daring new looks at the ways that they do business. Platforms and small business units are being formed within large companies to manage product lines. Cross-functional teams are replacing functional organizations as the driving forces in product development. Authority and leadership are being shifted lower and lower Into the working ranks, and the reengineering of work processes is becoming the challenge. This paper presents part of the story of Chrysler's Small Car Platform. It begins with an overview of the platform system. Then it focuses on the Process Phase of a vehicle program. The story is told to illustrate our experience in a continuous improvement process.

Nature does not know any problems! All problems are created by people who either know or do not know what they are doing. Therefore problems can only be solved by humans. Modern vehicles consist of more than 10.000 single parts which are connected by a huge amount of interfaces. In order to fulfill the lifetime requirement for all systems many theoretical and physical investigations are required in the development phase. The task of this article is to describe a simple analysis method - the Cause and Effect Diagram (CE Diagram) to identify and visualize problems during the product development as well as during the manufacturing process. The original application of the forties will be enhanced by some new aspects.

With parts consolidation and increasing systems performance requirements, instrument panel systems have become increasingly complex. For these systems, the use of predictive engineering tools can often reduce development time and cost. This paper outlines the use of such tools to support the design and development of an instrument panel (IP) system. Full-scale test results (NVH, head impact, etc.) of this recently introduced IP system were compared with predicted values. Additionally, results from moldfilling analysis and manufacturing simulation are also provided.

Rapid Prototyping, Fabrication and Tooling is a process that blends a series of technologies (machines, tools, and methods) capable of generating physical objects directly from a CAD database. The process dramatically reduces the time spent during product development by allowing for fast visualization, verification, iteration, optimization, and fabrication of parts and tools. Many new techniques of tooling have been and are being developed by using rapid fabricated parts. These are having a dramatic impact on both timing and costs throughout the automotive industry. One area that these methods can be utilized to their full potential is motorsports. Of particular interest is the growing use of bridge tooling to provide first article through production intent parts that promote cost effective changes.

The opposed piston opposed cylinder (opoc™) engine concept has been demonstrated as an engine concept with high specific power density and high power to volume ratio. The engine has several potential applications, including use as an auxiliary power unit (APU) in various commercial and military applications and as the primary power source for small unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). An engine in this power range operating on heavy fuels (e.g. JP5, JP8, DF2) is not typically available. The engine uses a two-cycle supercharged uniflow scavenging system with asymmetric port timing and will run at speeds between 8,000 and 12,000 rpm. The unique design of the opoc™ engine produces a piston speed that is half the speed of a typical crankshaft engine running at the same speed. Uniflow scavenging produces gas exchange efficiencies rivaling those of four-cycle engines. The design also leads to reduced in-cylinder heat losses. Furthermore, the opoc™ engine is fully balanced.