Knowledge based engineering of side impact beams

Abstract: Product development is a race against time to meet the specified customer
demands with as competitive price as possible. Gestamp HardTech is one of
the leading manufacturers of side impact beams for automotives in the
world. To stay competitive Gestamp HardTech works very hard improving key
issues such as manufacturing methods, quality, material usage and product
development processes. In an industry where every gram counts even small
improvements can make a great difference.
The objective with this master thesis is to cut development time and improve
the final product by implementing Knowledge Based Engineering in the early
stages of product design and product optimisation. The developed tools
reassure a good starting point of every beam considering manufacturability,
cost and energy absorption. As a direct result, the development time can be
shortened which gives more opportunities for geometric optimisation. This
results in a lighter and stronger beam, which means safer and more energy
efficient automobiles. By developing a superior and more profitable product
Gestamp HardTech will most likely increase their market share as well as
product margins. Another great bonus worth mentioning is that these tools
also act as an educational framework presenting most of the information
necessary to consider when designing a side impact beam.
This thesis has been conducted in line with the method referred to as
systematic product development together with influences from similar
methodologies. The project has, in short, been divided into a number of
phases: Feasibility Study, Identification of Product Demands, Implementation
followed by Product Testing and Evaluation.
Through interviews and company documentation we could distinguish important
design rules required by different departments such as economy, production
and quality. These rules were implemented to already existing CAD starting
models by using the NX Knowledge Based Engineering module called Knowledge
Fusion. Designing a side impact beam includes several time consuming and
repetitive tasks which could more or less be automated by creating
standalone programs using the NXOpen API. The final directive included in
this thesis proposed a connection between the CAD-geometry to optimisation
software LS-OPT and FEM software LS-DYNA. Such a bridge would make it
possible to automate the optimisation process and thus connecting the whole
design development circle.
The extent of this thesis is significant, covering all of the early stages
in the design process. By addressing the whole process we have aimed at
making a set of tools that work seamlessly together from the first rough
design through a set of optimisation runs and final design review.
The developed tools offer a quick and stable way to visualize a new design
in matter of minutes instead of hours. With a logical graphical user
interface, issued within NX, features such as beam type, clearance, flange
angle and top width can easily be changed to match the customer
specifications. This first rough beam design can with little manual means
be initiated in an optimisation process that considers the weight of the
beam. The developed tools makes it possible for the design and simulation
software to interact, updating the beam geometry continuously while
simulating the best possible energy absorption compared to the overall
weight of the beam.