Abstract
Covering the reliability of vehicle components from Robert Bosch GmbH, extensive tests are carried out before releasing these modules to customers. Components which are directly attached to the car body (e.g. control units, hydraulic units, sensors, etc.) have to endure in particular vibrations due to road excitations. Therefore, ride tests over specific uneven roads are performed with prototypes to determine the vibrational load on these components. On the other hand, numerical simulations using a full vehicle model offer possi-bilities to reduce clearly the experimental effort and therefore the connected costs. In addition, simulations can support very efficiently the analysis and comprehension of important effects of the vibrating system.
Objective of the current research project from Robert Bosch GmbH in co-operation with the Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG and the Institut für Technische Mechanik at the Universität Karlsruhe (TH) is a feasibility study of the numerical simulation for component testing.
In addition to a full vehicle model, a suitable component model is necessary to describe the vibrations at the component correctly. Therefore, particular attention is given in this work to the modeling of the component and methods to couple it to the car body.
Extensive experiments were performed at diverse locations of the vehicle. Comparisons of these measurements and simulations at characteristic locations at the vehicle body and the body-fixed component are presented. The good correlation of numerical and experimental results are promising for future virtual component testing.
Full vehicle models are used at the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) accompanying the development process. Taking advantage of existing vehicle models for virtual testing can achieve a high development quality with short development terms at the same time.
The use of virtual prototypes shows encouraging possibilities for the system developer implying a close co-operation between system supplier and OEM, as a twofold benefit.
Keywords - Virtual Testing, Vehicle Dynamics, Component Simulation and Testing, Virtual Prototyping, Virtual Product Development