20 Years of Crash Simulation at Opel - Experiences for Future Challenge

About 20 years ago, the first full vehicle crash simulations were performed at Opel. Since then, the rapid development of all simulation tools as well as the tremendously increased computer power have established the capability to apply crash and occupant simulations as a main driver of the virtual development for vehicle safety. Especially during the recent years with an increasing economic pressure being present in the automotive industry, there was a strong request to enhance simulation methods as well as their standardized application during the complete vehicle development process. This was done in order to drive the vehicle development process towards an approach combining the strengths of virtual and hardware based development to save costs and time. Besides the improvements of simulation methods, the paper will also focus on their impact on the change the vehicle development process has undergone during the recent years. It will also cover the achievements that have been made up to now as well as future requirements and challenges. Despite all efforts and significant progress that has been achieved so far, there is still a high demand for further improvement, especially to achieve the capability to perform fully predictive simulations.

application/pdf A-I-79.pdf — 1.4 MB