The CAE Driven Safety Development Process of the New Ford Fiesta Dr. Axel Haenschke Technical Specialist, Ford Motor Company Ltd Ford Werke GmbH, Köln, Germany [email protected]
Abstract The new Ford Fiesta – the new global vehicle is the blueprint for future product development. The new small car range goes on sale in Europe, Asia and North America progressively between 2008 and 2010. Sales in North America start in 2010. In Europe, Fiesta is being built in Cologne, Germany and Valencia, Spain. Outside of Europe, production will be in Nanjing, China, Rayong in Thailand and Cuautitlàn in Mexico. The new Fiesta is about premium feel of a larger car, delivers a new level of safety, driving quality and efficiency. The new Fiesta will be a great contribution towards sustainability and cost effective motoring. The first thing to notice is the design, but the vehicle performance and body structure attribute behaviour are the specific highlights to point out in this presentation. The attribute performance is not based on coincidences; the performance is a result of state of the art engineering work. Especially the safety performance in EuroNCAP:
• 5 star adult occupant rating • 4 star child occupant rating • 3 star Pedestrian Protection
is the result of state of the art tools and methods of the Ford CAE development process. These CAE engineering tools and methods are the major focus of the presentation, e.g.
• the CAE safety model database • the material database • the use of HSS and mapping tools for CAE recognition of material forming history
The safety CAE tools, methods and development process are strongly driven by the Altair Hyperworks environment. The results of the process are shown with several examples. Keywords: Crashworthiness, HyperWorks, RADIOSS
• DP600 front rails with TWB front section to achieve an efficient crush followed by bend and counter-bend collapse strategy• A/B Pillars hot-stamped from UHS Boron Steel
Structural and Safety Strategy
• DP600 rear side rails optimised for energy absorption in 80km/h crash mode
• Safety cell for fueltank survival space and door openability post test
• Crash simulation models have over 1,000,000 elements. • Super computers are used to run the models, which can take 24 multi-processors over 20hrs to complete!
