Automotive Door Sealing System Analysis

Door sealing system is one of the most important automotive quality issues. Problems with door seal system could cause water leakage, wind noise and hard to open or close, which impair customer’s satisfaction of the vehicle. That is why the door seal problem is always among the Hardy Perennial Top 10 list in JD Power Tracking Study. The design rationality and manufacturing process are important aspects for the functionality and performance of a sealing system. However, the door sealing system involves many design variables and manufacturing variables. It is almost impossible to precisely confirm individual quantitative effects on functionalities of these variables. Therefore, computer based simulation of door sealing system is more practical since it can isolate the critical factors and it is cost effective and time efficient. LS-DYNA was used to simulate door seal system. The key structural component, the rubber seal, was modeled and simulated. Different types of elements, material models and contact algorithms from LS-DYNA element, material and contact libraries were tried and compared. Consequently, the best modeling and simulation technology was developed for the door sealing system analysis. The newly developed method showed the great potential of comprehensive studies of door sealing system. The analysis results provided some major parameters, such as seal deformation, contact pressure and energy transformation, which would influence the functionality and performance of the door sealing system. The analysis results have been compared with some available test data, and very good correlations were obtained. The analysis also evaluated the influence of manufacturing deviations. With the results obtained from this analysis, the relationship between the major parameters could be established and used as a tool to derive a better sealing system design at early stage. This analysis method could also be used to evaluate the influence of certain type of process error. Eventually, this analysis method will be developed into a tool that is capable of predicting water leakage, wind noise and hard to open/close problems caused by either product design or manufacturing process.