Development and Application of a Virtual Test Environment for the Optimization of Vehicle Structures

Kurzfassung

With growing environmental concerns and stricter CO2 emission regulations, the world is transitioning to electric and green mobility. Electric vehicles can either be Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) or Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV). One such concept of FCEV is being developed by the Institute for Vehicle Concepts at DLR and is called the Inter Urban Vehicle (IUV). IUV is one of 3 concepts being developed at the German Aerospace Center DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.) under Next Generation Cars (NGC) and will be made of lightweight materials like carbon fiber composites. Furthermore, the IUV concept does not have a B pillar which is essential for handling side pole crashes. The side sill and the doors are the primary crash structures as these structures come in contact during the side pole crash. The side sill structure is more relevant as it should absorb 50% of the energy during the crash. The remaining 50% of the energy would be absorbed by the doors and the roof of the structure. To develop the required design with composite materials, extensive validation and testing has to be performed which is a time-consuming process. The main aim of this thesis is to develop a Virtual Test Environment (VTE), which can parameterize FE models and develop multiple input files within a specified range and to utilize this VTE to optimize the design meet its design requirements. Furthermore, composite structures are difficult to simulate and the material model changes over time as it is continuously developed. Hence, a VTE is important to keep track of the changes within the material model. With the use of input files, the effect of parameter variation on the performance of the structure under crash scenarios can be understood better. With each parameter analyzed and optimized, the structure should perform much better and absorb more energy. Based on the results of the optimization, parameters like thickness and the response values like Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) are chosen to create a new side sill structure which is integrated into the floor of the vehicle. Finally, the optimized structure is to be tested numerically for its performance and its energy absorption during impact.