BTR Automotive commissioned the Structural Dynamics Group of Sinclair Knight Merz to undertake complete concept and engineering design of the upper and lower control arms for the 1998 AU Falcon passenger vehicle. Working closely with BTR, and acting on load and compliance data established from ADAMS solutions carried out by Ford, Structural Dynamics engineers rapidly defined a manufacturable concept that suited BTR Automotive’s casting facility requirements and the packaging definition provided by Ford.
The casting process selected was a leading edge technology not previously utilised in Australia. CAE Finite Element Analysis (FEA) capabilities provided by the Structural Dynamics Group were able to demonstrate significant engineering gains from implementing the new process.
Following concept approval, highly detailed stress analysis was carried out on the designs of both arm components, including efficient iteration brought about by design changes elsewhere in the vehicle. The fully parametric CAE/FEA interface provided by SDRC’s Master Series software emerged as a major advantage to the client in evaluating design iterations, whilst still meeting manufacturing deadlines over the life of the project.
The final detailed FEA models of the control arms were also used to predict fundamental vibration modes of these components, to ensure their compliance with strict NVH requirements. At project completion, an optimised design in terms of strength, mass and compliance was achieved, which exceeded the engineering expectations of Ford for both strength and fatigue performance.