How to Make Cars

Safe and Light?

Solutions

Virtual recreation of catastrophic crash can help understand how an automobile’s structural components behave under extreme loading situations.

Materials typically fail differently depending on the loading it is subjected to. To make the design safe and light, it is essential to include the ‘true’ strength of the material until after failure (post-buckling). This ensures that the material is used to its fullest extent and the structure/component’s optimal weight.

It is challenging to predict cracks around holes, edges, and welds in ultra-high-strength-steel (UHSS) during crash conditions. Using plastic strain from standard tensile tests or a forming limit diagram (FLD) as an indicator of failure is not adequate. The solution is very dependent on the element size and only valid for monotonic loading. Also, the maximum plastic strain at failure is dependent on the element size and thickness of the samples.

SafeLight package includes a library of models that enable calculation of material failure

Software to predict damage &

post-bucking behavior

Safe Light

SafeLight is a library of models for material failure based on stress tri-axiality that can capture the post-buckling behavior, including the element size and thickness dependency. This model can be coupled to results from thermo-mechanical forming analysis & can predict force-response post-buckling.

Phases package includes a library of models that allows computation of phase evolution during thermo-mechanical processing

Software to predict phase evolution

Phases

Phases is a library of models for predicting the microstructure (grain size, precipitation, phase composition, plastic strain, and damage evolution) during hot/cold forming. The components produced from forming simulation can be combined with SafeLight for crash simulation.

Generic Modeling Platform (GMoP) is a software and service that includes material testing and calibration of material models.

Generic Modeling Platform

Testing and Calibration

To calibrate the model, a carefully planned testing regime must be executed. This involves designing the test matrix, machining the specimen, performing the tests, calibrating the model, and performing validation tests.

Modeling Support Package

Engineering Services

Engineering support integrates our libraries with the client’s existing analysis software to accurately predict material failure and post-buckling behavior. We will also help you set up simulation pipelines and enable and ensure the accurate interpretation of simulation results.