Karmann Selects ESI Group's PAM-STAMP and PAM-CRASH Solutions

Leading automotive supplier optimizes crash test simulation by including stamping effects

Micad 2002 - Paris, March 26, 2002 - ESI Group, a leading provider of virtual prototyping and manufacturing solutions, today announced that Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, a full-service supplier to the automotive industry, has selected PAM-CRASH and PAM-STAMP solutions to optimize crash simulations and increase the knowledge of new material used to reduce vehicle weight.

With every new vehicle project, Karmann reviews new materials with an eye to improving the vehicle construction. The new high strength steel DP 600 offers very high yield stress and hardening effects, which gave excellent crash behavior when used for specific components. However, Karmann needed to define how the DP 600-based components' behavior would affect the overall crash behavior of the complete vehicle. The company understood the synergies possible in coupling the stamping data from PAM-STAMP with the simulation run in PAM-CRASH and therefore launched a study to determine which components exhibit significantly modified behavior following the stamping process.

"The addition of PAM-STAMP simulation data to our crash simulations is necessary to have accurate results when using new types of steel, such as the new high strength steel DP 600, with increased hardening effects compared to common steel," says Norbert Schulte-Frankenfeld, CAE Manager, Wilhelm Karmann GmbH. "The ability to include this information in the PAM-CRASH simulation can make a crucial difference in the correlation between simulation and prototype testing."

The final goal of the study is to identify which components require the input of PAM-STAMP data into the crash simulation data. Optimal use of stamping data will guarantee the most accurate PAM-CRASH simulation without overburdening the simulation. The company will also better understand the modifications of the DP 600 part following the stamping process, and will therefore be able to recommend which components would benefit from the use of DP 600, which can be used to produce lighter components that will reduce overall vehicle weight.

A preliminary study was performed on the reinforcement for the A-pillar in the body-in-white of a convertible. This A-pillar reinforcement compensates the weaker car structure because of the missing roof. The study compared, among other things, crash simulations of the high-strength DP 600 part with and without consideration of the stamping effects.

The results from the different simulation runs gave an indication that the addition of stamping simulation data can significantly influence crash results. While the study showed that there is moderate change on a commonly used DC 04 steel part, the characteristics of the DP 600 part result in a significantly higher load level if the stamping history is taken into account, particularly because of the pre-straining during the forming process.

While Karmann is still confirming these results with real tests that have been performed, the coupled stamp-crash simulation promises to greatly improve the accuracy of high performance steel simulation behavior becoming more and more used in the automotive industry, and that of DP 600 in particular. The initial simulation results have convinced Karmann to begin including PAM-STAMP data into the PAM-CRASH simulation for the vehicles they currently have in development.

About Karmann 

Wilhelm Karmann GmbH, a full-service supplier to the automobile industry, has developed and manufactured more than three million automobiles for major OEMs including the famous Karmann Ghia and the extremely popular VW Golf Convertible. More recently, Karmann has developed and manufactured the DaimlerChrysler CLK and the new Audi A4 convertibles, which hit the market in the spring of 2002. Best known for its expertise in convertibles, Karmann's extensive technical development department also includes design and materials development. Karmann supplies customers such as DaimlerChrysler, Jaguar, Renault and Audi with a wide range of services from complete vehicle development and manufacturing to niche assembly.

About ESI 

Group Editor of virtual testing solutions, ESI Group is a pioneer and world leading provider of numerical simulation prototypes and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an entire suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product's behavior during testing, to fine tune the manufacturing processes in synergy with the desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment's impact on product usage. ESI Group's product portfolio, which has been industrially validated and combined in multi-trade value chains, represents a unique collaborative, virtual engineering solution, known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling a continuous improvement on the virtual prototype. By drastically reducing costs and development lead times, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantages by progressively eliminating the need for physical prototypes. With revenues close to euros 43 million in fiscal year 2001, ESI Group (Nouveau March�: Euronext Paris - Software - Euroclear 6584 - Bloomberg ESI FP - Reuters ESIG.LN) employs over 300 high-level specialists worldwide. The company and its global network of agents provide sales and technical support to customers in more than 30 countries.

www.esi-group.com

 

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