Experimental Validation of Structural Gage Sensitivity Indices for Vehicle Body Structure Optimization

A study of the effect of elastic instability on stiffness-based gauge sensitivity indices for vehicle body structure assessment

“…In other words, gauge sensitivity of a structure changes as the thickness changes. However, for the geometries characteristic of representative automotive vehicle body applications, and for thickness changes of the magnitude one might see when up gauging to perform vehicle body structure material substitutions (perhaps doubling or tripling the thickness) or component down gauging (thickness reductions of up to 50%), a constant-l approximation can accurately models changes in the thicknessrelated structural performance due to a uniformly proportional gauge modification [19,20] …”

“…It is important for automobile designer to estimate quickly the degree of elastic instability present within the vehicle body structures and evaluate its effect on the structure performance (stiffness, for example), especially in the early development process. Gauge sensitivity analysis [18][19][20] is a technique for assessing the effect of material thickness changes on automotive structural performance. The technique provides insight into internal load distributions and can be used to assess body structures by providing a means to compare alternate architectures or evaluate the effectiveness of architecture changes.…”