Explicit–Implicit Co-Simulation Techniques for Dynamic Responses of a Passenger Car on Arbitrary Road Surfaces

To study the durability of a passenger car, this work investigates numerical simulation techniques. The investigations are based on an explicit–implicit approach in which substructure techniques are used to reduce the simulation time, allowing full vehicle dynamic analyses to be performed on a timescale that is difficult or impossible with the conventional finite element model (FEM). The model used here includes all necessary nonlinearities in order to maintain accuracy. All key components of the car structure are modeled with deformable materials. Tire–road interactions are modeled in the explicit package with contact-impact interfaces with arbitrary frictional and geometric properties. Key parameters of the responses of the car driven on six different kinds of test road surfaces are examined and compared with experimental values. It can be concluded that the explicit–implicit co-simulation techniques used here are efficient and accurate enough for engineering purposes. This paper also discusses the limitations of the proposed method and outlines possible improvements for future work.