Relevance of Structural Analyses for Commercial Vehicles in Today's Development Process When looking back over 20 years of structural analysis, I find that the change in importance and influence of structural analysis in the development process becomes apparent. Twenty years ago, structural analysis, as a dimensioning aid in design and as a help in solving trouble-shooting problems, constituted a flexible substitute for the rigid, time consuming classical methods. At the pre-design stage, completely different design principles are frequently compared analytically, often without drawings. This affects questions of material selection, the design of body members and joints in the body structure, the shape of cross members and cross member connection in truck frames, etc. The results of these analyses and the system costs involved have a very strong influence on the concept to be implemented.
Structural analysis is a very important aid for assessing the costs of conceivable alternatives.
The objective of reducing development times is successfully assisted by use of the finite element method. This also means more responsibility. This is no trivial task. The importance of structural analysis in the production development phase has changed to a greater degree than in the pre-development phase. Twenty years ago, because of the very simple software and hardware compared to present standards, individual selected items were dealt with analytically during or often following the detail design phase with the methods used at that time with all their limitations.