The assembly shown in Figure 22.1: 3D Suspension Model consists of two wheels and a body. A wheel consists of 11 parts, and the wheels are attached to the body via shafts. The body consists of 53 parts, and the dimension of the overall bounding box is 0.79594 × 0.79324 × 2.5252 (in meters).
The model uses SOLID186, SOLID187, and BEAM188 elements. SOLID186 is a 3D 20-node solid element exhibiting quadratic displacement behavior suitable for modeling homogeneous structural solids. SOLID187 is a 3D 10-node element that exhibits quadratic displacement behavior, but is suitable for modeling irregular meshes. BEAM188 is a 3D 2-node linear element used for linear elements to create general welds between different parts in contact. Bonded contact is assumed. This contact prevents relative displacement between the different parts of the assembly.
The parts of the model are made of structural steel and have a combined mass of 1250.1 kg.
Tetrahedral and hexahedral dominant meshes are used to mesh the assembly. The model has 305,968 nodes and 165,901 elements. Figure 22.2: Meshed Suspension Model shows the meshed model of the assembly.
