Master Research Proposal

Title:
Dynamics Model Updating of Body in White (BIW) Structure

Candidate:
NOOR AM ZURA BINTI ABDULLAH
(I/C: 910809-10-5118)

Supervisor:
Professor Dr Mustafizur Rahman (Main SV)
Mohd. Shahrir b. Mohd. Sani (Co-SV)

Introduction/Research Background
Body in white or BIW refers to the stage in automotive design or automobile
manufacturing in which a car body's sheet metal components have been welded together
but before moving parts (doors, hoods, and deck lids as well as fenders) the motor,
chassis sub-assemblies, or trim (glass, seats, upholstery, electronics, etc.) have been
added and before painting.
The body shop area, responsible for the body-in-white assembly and its subassemblies,
has a special responsibility to guarantee final dimensional geometry of the automobile,
what it makes possible the final assembly of the mechanic, trim, comfort and safety
components with worldwide class of quality. The great operations diversity in the body
shop process becomes the productive system very complex for the evaluation and quality
control and dimensional control (Sanchez, 2007). The continuous search for methods and
tools of quality control applied in a suitable way helps to guarantee more steady
processes, inside of the specifications, reducing variations and losses in the productive
process. Through the concepts demonstration, application and results of a pre-control
method applied to the dimensional of car body subassemblies, it is possible to identify the
variations of the body-in-white assembly process with low investment, resulting in the
dimensional stability.
Body in white (BIW) has been developed in last 30 or 35 years ago and this is indicates
that the evolution of these structures is increasing and stable along the years (Filho et al.,
2003). Therefore many researchers in automotive industry have taken this opportunity to
be involved in the chassis manufacturing technology and development. Malaysia had
invested large amount of money in automotive industry. However, the automotive
industry in Malaysia especially in truck manufacturing is still in the development phase
and much relying on foreign technology.
Nowadays, the current trend in car design involves the reduction of costs and increase in
transportation efficiency. The pursuit of both these objectives results in lighter car, which

uses less material and carries less dead weight. At the same time, the comfort of the
driver cannot be neglected as the driver has to operate safely and comfortably for many
hours. Chassis is one of the parts in the vehicle that is strongly influenced by these
guidelines of weight and cost reduction (Ferraro et al., 1998). The consequence of a
lighter chassis is a vehicle that has structural resonance within the range of typical rigid
body vibrations of the truck subsystems. On the other hand, the vibration also can be
formed due to dynamic forces induced by the road irregularities, engine, transmission and
more. Thus under these various dynamic excitation, the chassis will tend to vibrate and
can lead to ride discomfort, ride safety problems, road holding problems and also to cargo
damage or destruction (Ibrahim et al., 1996). However, it is worried most if one of the
excitation forces coincides with the natural frequencies of truck chassis. It can cause
resonance to occur where the chassis will undergo dangerously large oscillation. This can
result in excessive deflection and failure.

Literature Review
An extensive literature search in the area of vehicle vibration prediction especially for
BIW structure and method of testing was conducted. It has been done to get some idea for
the project. The databases such as Society Automotive Engineers (SAE) Technical Papers
and Science Direct, which are a leading source literature for automotive, vibration and
engineering research, were used to complete the search. Mostly the literature reviews that
have been found are based on a previous researchers technical papers from Society
Automotive Engineers. The literature search is basically related on recent structural
dynamic analysis, modal analysis testing, finite element analysis and model updating on
the truck chassis.
Filho et al. (2003) have carried out a research for a commercial off-road vehicle chassis.
The work consists in obtaining an optimized chassis design for an off-road vehicle with
the appropriate dynamic and structural behavior, taking into account the aspects relative
to the economical viability of an initial small scale production. In this paper, the authors

have divided the work into three main parts, first are the experimental test done to the
chassis to find the torsional stiffness and modal parameters, second are the validation of
the finite element model of the chassis using experimental data, and third are the
optimization of the chassis based on the validated finite element model to increase in the
structural stiffness but with maintenance of the center of gravity of height and total
weight of the structure. Because of the scope of the thesis, only the modal analysis, the
validation of finite element model and the optimization of the chassis will be discussed.
In a modal testing analysis, the real structure of chassis was sustained by strings to
represent a free-free boundary condition. In this experimental test, 6 accelerometers, an
inertial hammer, 7 signal conditioners and an acquisition board attach to a Laptop was
used for data acquisition. This experimental setup is shown in Figure 1.0.

Figure 1.0: Experimental modal analysis setup for truck chassis (Filho et al., 2003)
While in the finite element analysis, the chassis model was built using the ANSYS
program. A combination of several elements such as a quadrilateral shell elements and
triangular shell element were used in the meshing analysis. The results of the modal
testing and finite element analysis are shown in Table 1.0. The natural frequencies for the
first 7 modes are shown in this table. The authors also found that the first mode of the

chassis is torsion, the second mode is bending in y axis and the third mode is bending in z
axis. Besides that, the author had discovered the optimized structure presented increase in
torsional stiffness, increase of height of center gravity and increase in total mass.
Table 1.0: Results of the modal testing and finite element analysis (Filho et al., 2003)
Experimental (Hz)
27.57
43.99
61.17
80.86
102.52
114.74
131.53

F.E.M (Hz)
34.1
45.5
54.4
82.8
86.1
110.3
128.8

Da Silva et al. (2003) discovered on experimental modal analysis with performed

on prototype chassis of off-road competition vehicle. A scheme of the experimental test
setup is shown in Figure 2.0. In this paper, the structure under test was driven by an
electrodynamics shaker which attached to the suspended chassis by a flexible stinger.

Figure 2.0: Test setup: I vertical excitation and II horizontal excitation (Da Silva et al. ,
2003)

The authors had used Levy identification method to identify the basic modal
parameters. Based on these parameters, a sine dwell test was then employed to identify
the mode shapes. The updated model shows better results when compared to the
experimental data. Eventually, the authors had suggested that this FEM model will be use
soon to create a flexible multibody model in order to study vehicle ride, handling and
comfort.
The studies by Roslan et al. (2003), Deweer and Langenhove (2001), Brughmans
et al. (1999), A.Kamal et al. (2003) provide several others method for finite element and
modal analysis, correlation and model updating of structures. Roslan et al. (2003) had
present two methods for model updating in a flat plate which are modal based correlation
and response based correlation. Besides that the authors also had study the effect by
adding the ribs to dynamic properties of structure.
Deweer and Langenhove (2001) in his paper has described and explained in every
step to update the finite element model of an exhaust using the latter to prepare the
measurement and modal analysis. For the purpose of study, the authors had highlighted
several aspects such as the use of slave DOFs to complete the test geometry, the effect of
low damping behavior of an exhaust on the modal acquisition and the influence of the
mass loading on the modal analysis. Additionally a modal analysis procedure on
inconsistent data sets was proposed by the authors where the modal analysis was
executed in two steps and the pieces of the different mode shapes were then merges
together.
Brughmans et al. (1999) study deals with the integration of test analysis
correlation and model updating techniques in a high performance computational
environment for vibro-acoustic optimization, HPC-VAO. The several steps involve in
this integration has been illustrated by the authors with a typical NVH engineering model
provided by one of the end-users. Finally, A.Kamal et al. (2003) had present the model
updating results of a center member bar using finite element method. In this paper, the

optimum location for accelerometer was decided by the pretest analysis using FEMtools
software. Figure 3.0 show that the displacement of the model was normalized by pretest
analysis.

Figure 3.0: Result of pretest analysis for center member bar. (A.Kamal et al.,2003)

Problem Statement
The problem was to determine the effect of structural dynamics modification on reducing
vibration of BIW structure. How the experimental and computational method was carried
out to identify this problem? What are the factors contributes due to the resonance on
BIW structure? How to modify the structure to reduce vibration and to improve the
strength?
Significant/Contribution of Study
Potentially this research would assist in the development of a finite element model of the
BIW structure. The FE model is validated not only using modal analysis but also using
modal updating and structural dynamics modification.
Research Objectives

The objectives of this research are:

a) To model and determine modal properties BIW structure by using normal mode
Finite Element analysis.
b) To determine the natural frequency and mode shape of BIW structure by using
experimental modal analysis.
c) To perform model updating to minimize the discrepancies between numerical
and experimental modal analysis.

Scope of Research
The scopes of this research are:
a) Simulation work by using finite element method. (MS Nastran/ABAQUS)
b) Experimental work by modal analysis. (Shaker and Impact Hammer)
c) Correlation of finite element analysis and modal analysis.
d) Modal updating analysis on FE model by adjusts the selective properties.
e) Proper modification and improvement of BIW structure to suit desired
requirement.

Research Methodology
Start

Literature
Review
Geometry
Data
Simulation

Experimen
tal

Modelling by
Solidwork

*DAS using
Shaker Type

FE Analysis by
Nastran

Modal Analysis
using MEscope

Correlation
Analysis
Model Updating

DAS using
Impact Hammer

Correlation
OK?
Yes

No

Verified
FE Model
Thesis

End

Expected Result and Discussion

Experimental Modal Analysis (EMA) maximum 10% error value of natural

frequency between shaker and impact hammer method.

Comparison Experimental Modal Analysis and Finite Element Method

Maximum 30% error value of natural frequency - Correlation. Natural
Frequency from FEM higher than Natural Frequency from EMA.

Model Updating 2 parameter were selected : the dynamic modulus of BIW

structure, E and mass density of BIW structure,

Structural Dynamics Modification - Error reduce to maximum 5%.

Conclusion
This research could be accomplished successfully within the time frame. All the methods
used in experimental and simulation study are feasible. The result obtained can be used as
a reference for further research.
References
A.Kamal A., Fadhlur R.R., M.Jailani M.N, Model Updating of Center Member Bar,
The 3rd International Conference on Numerical Analysis in Engineering, Pulau
Batam, Indonesia, 2003.
Brughmans M., Leuridan J., Langenhove T.V., Validation of Automotive Component FE
Models by Means of Test-Analysis and Model Updating Technique, SAE Paper
1999-01-1797, Noise and Vibration Conference & Exposition, Traverse City,
Michigan, 1999.
Da Silva M.M., Oliveira P.de, Ericson L.G.S., Nesta A.C., Varoto P.S., An Experimental
Investigation on the Modal Characteristic of an Off-Road Competition Vehicle
Chassis, SAE Paper 2003-01-3689, Congresso SAE Brasil, 2003.

Deweer J. and Langenhove T.V., Identification of the Best Modal Parameters and
Strategies for FE Model Updating, SAE Paper 2001-01-1439, SAE Technical
Paper, 2001.
Ferraro L.C., Veissid V.L., Freitas C.A.M., A Study of Vibrational Behavior of Medium
Truck Considering Frame Flexibility with the use of Adams, 1998 International
ADAMs User Conference, 1998.
Filho R.R.P., Rezende J.C.C., Leal M.d.F., Borges J.A.F., Automotive Frame
Optimization, SAE Paper 2003-01-3702, Congresso SAE Brasil, 2003.
Ibrahim I.M., Crolla D.A., Barton D.C., Effect of Frame Flexibility on the Ride
Vibration of Trucks, Computers & Structure Vol. 58, pp.709-713, Elsevier Science
Ltd., 1996.
Roslan A.R., Zubair M., Amin N., Finite Element Modeling, Correlation and Model
Updating of Stiffened Plate, Jurnal Mekanikal, 2003.
Sanches Junior, L.M. Automotive Body-in-White Dimensional Stability Trough PreControl Application in the Sub assembly Process, Professional Master on
Automotive Engineering, master thesis, EPUSP, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007, 150.

Appendix
Tentative Research Schedule (Oct 2014-Sept 2016)
Month
Activities
Literature Survey
Modelling and Finite
Element Method
Experimental Modal
Analysis - Shaker
Experimental Modal
Analysis Impact
Hammer
Correlation and Model
Updating
Structural Dynamics
Modification
Analysis and Result
Discussion
Writing of thesis

13
Oct

Nov

46
Dec

Jan

Feb

79
Mar

Apr

May

10 12
Jun

July

Aug

13 15
Sept

Oct

Nov

16 18
Dec

Jan

Feb

19 21
Mar

Apr

May

22 24
Jun

July

Aug

Sept