Title: Robustness study of a hat profile beam made of boron steel subjected to three point bending

Authors: Sandeep Shetty; Larsgunnar Nilsson

Addresses: Volvo Car Corporation, Gothenburg SE-405 31, Sweden ' Division of Solid Mechanics, Linköping University, Linköping SE-581 83, Sweden

Abstract: It is essential to account for variations in the manufacturing process and in loading conditions when improving the robustness and reliability of a products design. A finite element study of the robustness of a hat profile beam made from boron steel subjected to a three point bending load is presented, and an approach to incorporate the variations investigated is demonstrated. Fracture risk factors and the maximum deflection of the beam are the measured responses. Spatial variation of the sheet thickness is considered in the forming simulations, along with other input variations. Stress-strain relations from tensile tests have been used in the robustness analyses to represent the variation in material properties. Furthermore, validations of four metamodels have been performed. Both the responses measured were found to be sensitive to input variations. Separate metamodels were created for each risk prone zone in order to improve the performance of the metamodels for risk factor responses.

Keywords: robustness analysis; Monte Carlo analysis; metamodelling; boron steel; fracture risk factors; hat profile beam; three point bending; product design; beam deflection; finite element method; FEM; sheet thickness; forming simulation; stress-strain relations; tensile tests.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2016.080880

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2016 Vol.11 No.3, pp.252 - 270

Received: 17 Dec 2015
Accepted: 14 Sep 2016

Published online: 09 Dec 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article