A Unified FE Modeling Approach to an Automobile Cockpit Module

Development process of the automobile part modules usually requires various kinds of numerical simulations to reduce the number of prototypes. In the past simulation, engineers had been forced to use several tools for different types of Finite Element (FE) based stress analysis, even though the simulation processes are well defined, since no FE based stress analysis software had not provided various capabilities required for the development process. Due to severe competition in the current market situation, automobile companies and their part suppliers should reduce the time to market and costs for the development to keep them as competitive as they can. Thus, the lesser time engineers are allowed in designs, the more need for effective tools that can handle almost all of their numerical procedures is expected. In this paper, we are going to show how ABAQUS effectively works well for different types of simulations. The effectiveness comes mainly from using the same FE model with minor adjustments for each analysis item. Several important analyses which are mandatory in the design phase of cockpit module such as head impact analysis, natural frequency extraction, sag analysis, and creep analysis have been carried out as examples.