Manufacturing Processes and Passive Safety

Simulation of complex manufacturing processes to predict structural product characteristics often requires a chain of distinct simulation disciplines. Each simulation step typically requires a specific problem discretization to handle the physical effects. To achieve realistic simulation results, local material properties have to be specified as initial condition at each step of the virtual process chain. In addition to the transfer of local material properties along a manufacturing chain, simulation models have to be validated by comparison with experimental test results.

In order to transfer local material properties between consecutive simulation steps, MpCCI Mapper as file-based mapping tool has been developed by SCAI.

Passive Safety - Automotive Body Components

For an accurate prediction of the structural behavior of metal sheet car body components, the local manufacturing history must be taken into account. Local reduction of material thickness, stresses, plastic strain, and other material properties such as the local crystalline structure of high-strength steel resulting from single manufacturing steps like deep drawing, immersion lacquering, and welding may have significant influence on the resulting car body component. As local material properties may vary during a manufacturing process, result information has to be transferred downwards the process chain.

• Project UmCra2
• BMBF Project ViProf
• Faurecia Article

Structural Optimization for Lightweight Stamping Tools

The combination of increased diversity of automotive parts and the pressure for decreased tool development times results in the need for optimizing the structural layout of stamping tools. A number of German OEMs have used MpCCI Mapper to transfer the maximal pressure loads from the stamping process into a structural optimization environment. The optimization process thus can consider local stamping loads to determine improved designs with less total mass but the same stability.

• Project Innocat2 [PDF, pages 50-51]

Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Composites Components

The excellent mass-specific properties of carbon-fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) can be tailored to the actual requirements and make CFRP well qualified for use in lightweight constructions. However, the economical exploitation of these theoretical potentials is currently limited by insufficiencies of manufacturing processes, by lack of knowledge of the material behavior, and by insufficient prediction of the structural performance. These weaknesses can only be solved by establishing a close collaboration between the three disciplines of methods, materials, and processes. Another important precondition for improving CFRP applications is an integrated simulation of the entire CFRP process chain, where all significant process parameters and process results are transferred between the single simulation steps.

• Nafems Publication
• Projekt TC² RTM CAE/CAx

Continuous-Discontinuous Long Fiber-Reinforced Polymer

CoDiCoFRP (Continuous-discontinuous long fiber-reinforced polymer) structures combine the design freedom of discontinuous and the high stiffness and strength of continuous fiber-reinforced polymers. However, there is still a lack of proven concepts for the manufacturing, modeling, and dimensioning of CoDiCoFRP. Therefore, the International Research Training Group (IRTG) GRK2078 has been initialized with the objective to develop robust integrated engineering strategies for CoDiCoFRP and to train postgraduate engineers for the development of such lightweight technologies. These goals entail the establishment of a continuous CAE chain for CoDiCoFRP structures. The mapping library MpCCI MapLib is applied within this virtual process chain for data transfer.

GRK2078 CoDiCoFRP

Crash Model Validation using High-Speed 3D-Measurement data

The development time of passive safety components in automotive industries has been reduced on and on in the last years. The use of numerical simulation allows a high parameter variability but requires experimental validation of simulation models and procedures. Final experimental test are required by law but they are very expensive and time consuming. A common difficulty in crash simulation is the determination of reasons when simulation and experimental results differ. In the internal Project HORUS, Fraunhofer IOF designed a high-speed 3D-measurement system to generate triangulation-based 3D measurement data with a 3D frame rate up to 10 kHz. Fraunhofer SCAI has developed the software to compare a simulation result with high-speed 3D measurement data for deformation analysis.

• Mapping as file-based unidirectional data transfer MpCCI Mapper
• Support of unequal mesh densities or element types
• Support of unequal geometry details
• Support of mesh alignment when unequal mesh coordinate systems are used
• Geometric analysis of unequal geometries
• Validation of mapping quality and information loss due to mapping between unequal mesh densities

• Mesh generation and object detection in high-speed 3D point cloud information
• Deformation Analysis for detected objects
• Morphing of models over time
• Result export for GNS Animator 4

• Integration of commercial or inhouse codes into the MpCCI tools
• Integration of MpCCI tools into customer’s CAE workflow
• Adjusting MpCCI to customer’s specific requirements

• Realization of mapping tools for manufacturing process chains in R&D projects
• Development of new mapping algorithms and code interfaces for existing software

List of all supported codes and quantities