Abstract
The customer's perception over the quality finish of a car has relation with the visual appearance of the adjustments and clearances between mobile parts and the car body. The tendency of reducing these clearances, in conjunction with the structural flexibility of the parts involved, can produce undesired contacts and bad alignments under certain operation conditions, such as global torsional loading, slam of doors or even the static load produced by the rubber seals along the mobile parts perimeter.
This paper describes the methodology employed to predict and correct those problems. The technologies applied include the use of MSC/NASTRAN in combination with the software SENDAP (SENer Dynamic Analysis Program). NASTRAN is used for linear static, non-linear hyperelastic and transient non-linear analysis; SENDAP allows the kinematic analysis of the mobile parts and the determination of contacts and clearances, taking into account the structure flexibility.