Innovative modeling capabilities in virtual.lab in view of cross attribute simulation

To meet the challenge to support the development of an ever increasing number of vehicle models and variants with an optimal quality in the constantly decreasing resource and time requirements, companies are forced to increase the integration amongst and impact of the different simulation disciplines in the core vehicle design and engineering process. A proposed methodology is offered by LMS through the LMS Virtual.Lab Software suite proposing an integrated platform for body, chassis, engine and full vehicle engineering. Through its integration in Dassault Systemes PLM and Simulia solutions it tightly links multi-attribute simulation with vehicle design. Innovative assembly and modelling capabilities enable a unique bridge between the different vehicle attribute domains, being noise & vibration, durability, strength and crash/impact. The definition of a generic assembly, which can be even defined directly on the design model represented by CAD together with multi-solver modelling information, and a multi-solver pre/post environment seamlessly integrating leading crash, linear, and non-linear solvers (LS-DYNA, Nastran, Abaqus) allows an easy and thorough information and data sharing between the different disciplines, strongly increases the efficiency in creating subsystem and vehicle models and delivers optimal collaboration between design and engineering teams. This paper focuses on a comprehensive presentation of the methodologies employed, clearly demonstrates the aims and value that a multi-attribute PLM integrated solution brings, documented by real industrial examples and metrics.