Vehicle Performance

From target value definition and concept development up to virtual and physical coordination of the prototypes, FEV develops a secure, comfortable and, at the same time, agile driving behavior for its customers.

Alternative drive concepts with one or more electric engines offer a means of developing new chassis concepts and new electronic functions for increasing agility and safety that were previously impossible in conventional combustion engines.

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Driving dynamics and comfort

During chassis tuning, the characteristics of driving safety, driving comfort, and driving dynamics are coordinated in accordance with the vehicle objectives.

An increasing number of electronic systems are also finding their way into vehicles. In addition to the ABS and ESP systems legally in force today, many advanced driver assistance systems affect the road holding and stability of the vehicle via the chassis. Our big advantage here is the proximity to the Aldenhoven Testing Center (ATC) with its extensive infrastructure for testing driver assistance systems.

Thermal management

Conventional combustion engines provide sufficient warmth to heat the interior compartment, while highly efficient downsized engines require a PTC auxiliary heater. For electric vehicles, it is even more difficult to compensate for the heating power deficit or to reduce the requirements for heating power. To respond to these complex questions regarding optimal thermal management, FEV has elaborated a virtual development process which is based on a combination of one-dimensional and three-dimensional flow simulations.

The expedient combination of simulation and testing, as well as multi-disciplinary development approaches, leads to ideal thermal management solutions that take into account efficiency, component security, and costs.

Aerodynamics

Aerodynamics has become significantly more important due to the increasing efficiency requirements. Therefore FEVs holistic aerodynamic design affects all aspects, such as air resistance, vehicle safety (lift, lateral wind susceptibility), wetting or soiling, component cooling, and interior air conditioning as well as wind noise. FEV intensively uses CFD simulations when designing the virtual development phase, but also uses (climate) wind tunnels to optimize and validate the vehicles.

Passive vehicle safety

In addition to legal provisions that have to be met for the registration and maintenance of a car (homologation), there are consumer protection organizations, such as EuroNCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme), which go beyond the minimum legal requirements – for instance, to assess the passive vehicle safety of cars.

Globally active vehicle manufacturers not only have to comply with various legal requirements around the world, but must also achieve a top rating for Consumer Protection Ratings, which differ by region – for example, J-NCAP in Japan, C-NCAP in China, US NCAP in the US and Bharat NCAP in India.

FEV provides the functional design during development in the field of passive vehicle safety. In addition to virtual crash simulations, tests for parts, components, and the overall vehicle are coordinated, performed and evaluated.

CAE

The entire spectrum of virtual vehicle design and attribute development is covered by the FEV through the use of CAE (Computer-Aided Engineering), such as Finite Element Methods (FEM). FEV’s own High-Performance-Cluster (HPC) can solve all calculation disciplines, from a small component model up to an entire vehicle model, in order to support the short vehicle development cycles.

In addition to legal requirements, such as crash protection, comfort attributes, including NVH (vibrations) or driving dynamics are also calculated. The explicit FE Codes used at FEV are currently LS-Dyna and Radioss. Implicit simulations for stiffness and resistance testing are mainly carried out by the solvers Nastran, Abaqus, Tosca, and FemFat. For multiple-body simulations (MBS), Adams is used.

At the customer’s request any other commercial solver can be provided in a timely manner.

Testing

The reliability of a motor vehicle not only determines customer satisfaction, but also contributes to the economic development of the manufacturer. To validate the entire vehicle, endurance testing in a customer-oriented environment remains indispensable. Thanks to decades of experience, FEV is an expert partner in this field. Furthermore, FEV operates more than 200 test benches that specifically serve to regularly control emissions. With regard to the trending topic ADAS, FEV distinguishes itself from its competition with a proprietarily developed tool for the automated analysis of the driving environment.

Fleet Testing: Access to specially trained test drivers and data from worldwide driving cycles
NVH: Both physical testing and virtual methods
Steifigkeit: Virtual analyzes and durability tests on suitable test benches
Komponenten: Analysis of thermal, mechanical, and electrical interaction with the overall system
Material: Durability under environmental conditions

Get in contact with us

Lutz Heyser

Senior Director Business Development Vehicle

Phone+49 241 5689-2925

Frank Ehrlich

Director Business Development Vehicle

Phone+49 241 5689-9966

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