Use of Multi-scale Approach for Vehicle Weight Reduction Study

This paper presents the use of the multi-scale approach developed by Nexter, to study the weight reduction of military armored vehicles. The fatigue design of such mechanical system is often complex due to the gap between the scale of the system and the scale at which the fatigue phenomenon occurs. The multi-scale approach developed by Nexter involves first simulating the dynamic behavior of the mechanical system, then a dynamic finite element model coupled with a global fatigue criterion identifies the weak points location of the structure for different combination of loads. By focusing on these hot spots, local modeling including geometric singularities are done to assess fatigue life. This process is illustrated on a vehicle structure to study different concepts of weight reduction.