Automotive Axle Simulation and Correlation 2006-01-1255

Up to date, computer aided engineering (CAE) has been used in improvement of design quality and reduction of cost and delivery time. Although it has been widely accepted as a standard product development tool by the engineering community, CAE still faces many challenges in improving simulation process efficiency through process integration and automation, and simulation accuracy by analytical model/physical testing correlation. CAE engineers are constantly improving the accuracy of their analytical models through test correlation to deliver higher confidence for their analysis result. Although laboratory testing has provided an effective way to accelerate product development, analytical simulation of the lab test has been used frequently to further reduce the development cost and time throughout many industries. This paper presents a case study of CAE correlation of a finite element (FE) model of an automotive beam axle assembly in a laboratory test environment. A simplified boundary constraint model using springs was proposed for axle vertical bending test. Both strain and displacement measurements were adopted as the targets in the correlation. Maximum shear strain contours of the correlated models were compared to the test measurement. The analytical model update process was automated by applying optimization techniques. Good correlation results have been achieved. It proves that linear CAE simulation can accurately model the axle vertical bending lab test for stress and strain analysis. Certain correlation process issues related to data selection and finite element modeling are discussed and guidelines are recommended. The correlation process can be applied in other similar applications of the real world.