Constitutive Modelling and Analysis of Automotive Side Door Closing Operation

This presentation was made at the 2019 NAFEMS World Congress in Quebec Canada

Resource Abstract

When a customer is searching for their next vehicle, the ease of opening and closing the vehicle entry doors can play a role in deciding which vehicle to purchase. Unfortunately, it is difficult to translate “easy to open and close the door” into a group of quantitative values for performance judgement. It is even more difficult to accurately predict the door closing event due to the number of variables involved, such as door geometry and characteristics, fit and finish, air bind, and door seal compression loads. This paper introduces a computational method to predict door closing performance in terms of minimum closing speed and energy required to close the door. The results of the implemented model correlate well with measurements from physical testing. This paper also discusses how fit and finish impacts door closing performance.