An FEA-Based Concept Evaluation Tool For Early Vehicle Body-in-White Development

Sammanfattning

Traditional crash simulation approaches are typically time-consuming and requirehighly detailed vehicle models, which are often unavailable during the early stagesof product development. To address this limitation, Volvo Cars Corporation (VCC)employs an internal concept evaluation tool that allows designers to perform preliminarystructural analyzes and ensure designs meet subsystem-level requirementsat an early phase. This thesis focuses on the further development of this conceptevaluation tool by addressing its existing drawbacks, thereby enhancing its versatility,efficiency, and accuracy to better support early-stage design.By pairing Python-driven automation with LS-DYNA, the proposed frameworktransforms repetitive routine into a streamlined, standardized workflow. Scriptsregenerate meshes, reapply boundary conditions, and relaunch the simulation themoment a design variable is set. The developed system framework uses the threepointbending scenario, identified as one of the most critical load cases in vehiclestructural assessments, as a representative example to build an automated preprocessingmodule.In addition, an automated error handling layer was integrated into the framework.It effectively intercepts issues such as problematic meshes, incorrect coordinate systems,or solver warnings early in the process, thereby preventing contamination ofresults. Due to automation, engineers can conveniently preset cross-sectional parameterssuch as dimensions, materials, boundary conditions, and other essentialinputs. Even under rapid development cycles, all required parameters can be appliedcorrectly and consistently.Finally, all benefits mentioned above are integrated into a unified graphical interface.It is intuitive enough for design engineers to guide themselves through all stepsof the simulation setup, paying attention to the most crucial aspects while minimizingexposure to non-essential components. The framework transforms previouslymanual processes into automated workflow and background computations, enablingfaster and more accurate numerical results.