• project objectives
• state of the art
• topics & responsibilities

State of the Art

The state of the art in the industrial use of simulation technology for automotive applications has been identified through a variety of well informed sources, including:

1. The activities of the FENET project, with particular reference to the findings of the land transport sector within this network, a summary of which can be found here .
2. Feedback from a recent survey of the engineering analysis community, which included widespread coverage of the automotive industry.
3. Discussions with a diverse range of key individuals who are intimately involved with the use of simulation within the automotive industry.

There are many common issues and clear benefits to be gained by sharing knowledge and experience of best practice and forthcoming technological breakthroughs between practitioners. Some of the issues, which illustrate the need for a pan-European consortium, are discussed briefly below.

The use of modelling and simulation by the largest organisations in the automotive industry is fairly well developed. A key issue confronting practitioners is how to integrate existing technology into the overall CAE process more effectively. This is in response to the driver for a continually better product and foreshortened time to market.

There are considerable process-related issues that have still to be effectively addressed. These include establishing "standard" analysis processes which can be adopted throughout the supply chain, maintaining life cycle information with the product data and industry standards for the exchange and storing of life-time product data.

At a technical level there is considerable demand for more realistic representation of materials, especially composite materials, crack propagation and the realisation of smart structures. Reduced time to market, reduced development cost and improved performance are strong drivers and in response there is a requirement for better simulation and "virtual assessment" modelling – both in respect of basic technology and in guidance about their use.

Public demand for better safety has focussed attention on "crashworthiness". The high cost of prototype testing has increased the routine use of crash simulation codes, however there is a need to provide reliable information on model validation techniques and guidance on realistic crash scenarios where experience is still relatively limited.

Market pressures are dictating lighter vehicles to improve fuel economy, this involves a high degree of optimisation to reduce component mass. Increasing use is being made of alternative manufacturing methods, such as adhesive bonding where suitable methods and materials data are scarce and there is a generic need to improve confidence in the modelling of connections. The requirement to predict failures and service life are important to vehicle performance and ultimately the acceptance of the product in the marketplace.

In common with other industries, there is universal recognition that engineering simulation is a difficult technology to apply reliably and with confidence. From our discussions it is evident that the quality of the applications and the confidence that can be placed in the results are major issues which are limiting the further uptake of simulation technology in the European automotive industry.