Cutting-edge NVH work helps FutureSteelVehicle reduce body structure weight by 35%
Design optimization supports advanced steel technology to reach EV weight target
Pursuing seemingly contradictory objectives commissioned by WorldAutoSteel, the FutureSteelVehicle (FSV) project set out to highlight the potential of advanced steel technology in vehicle body designs by developing a concept vehicle platform to suit a range of alternative powertrain configurations.
The challenge was to design a concept vehicle that had low mass – the target body-in-white (BIW) mass for the battery electric vehicle was <190 kilograms (kg) – while maintaining functional performance levels expected from a car today.
Siemens PLM Software provided the noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) engineering expertise for the concept design phase of the project. It was decided that the FSV project should take a holistic multi-attribute approach to the vehicle and body concept design, including front loading NVH engineering to prove that a lightweight vehicle concept could achieve the multi-functional performance (including crash, comfort, noise, etc.) expected of a modern automobile while reducing body mass.