Body structures engineering and interior systems development

Modern vehicle body structures must comply with numerous requirements for stiffness and durability, yet be lightweight, efficient to manufacture and assemble, and offer adequate packaging space for the powertrain, chassis and interior functions. In addition, optimized sound packages must be delivered. LMS Engineering Services has an in-depth experience in body engineering and offers specialized capabilities to meet these stringent requirements.

Body structures

Benchmarking and target setting

Target setting for global structural stiffness,
local joint and rail stiffness
Balance targets for noise and vibration sensitivity of the
body at major powertrain and chassis attachment points
Balance stiffness and attribute targets with
the mass of the entire body structure

Architecture definition and concept development

Layout of the major structural rails, panels and joints;
reconciled with packaging and manufacturing
constraints, and dynamic performance targets
Fast assessment of design concepts without
the need for detailed CAD models
Assessment of design viability for crashworthiness

Detailed design and engineering

Joint design and optimization of joint and section properties
Defining rail section and material gage properties
Defining panel shapes and thickness
Designing ribbing and stiffener patterns
Optimizing spot welding patterns
Vibro-acoustic optimization through structural weak spot identification and panel contribution analysis
Fatigue life assessment through damage prediction using synthesized loading
Balancing NVH and durability with crash

Interior systems

Benchmarking and target setting

Full-vehicle acoustic benchmarking
Sound quality target setting
Characterization of mass requirements

Material characterization

Material property testing
Material modeling (BEM/FEM)
Multi-layer material equivalent formulations
Sealing system property characterization

Trimmed body modeling

Coupled structural/acoustic models
Correlation and updating

Sound package development and refinement

Interior panel contribution analysis
Trim package optimization
Cost/mass reduction
Interior & under hood acoustic countermeasures