Concurrent Design & Life Cycle Engineering in Automotive Lightweight Component Development

Lightweight design is a major trend in automotive component development. This is induced by regulatory requirements targeting the use phase of vehicles. The predominant approach is the introduction of new materials, either in single- or multi-material designs. Taking an environmental life cycle perspective, new materials typically cause increased burdens from raw materials provision that need to be compensated by energy savings from the vehicles use phase. Interfaces between life cycle engineering, component design and manufacturing of automotive lightweight components are elaborated. A redesign process for a roof structure serves as an exemplary case. Based on these activities, research demands in data acquisition, methods and tools in design and life cycle evaluation are presented. A special focus is set on the conceptual design stage, as emerging materials and manufacturing processes routes lead to a broadening of the concept variety.