spaceframe chassis design

[mattress47]

Hey,
I have been working on a spaceframe chassis design for a sports prototype vehicle and I am trying to improve my modelling process.
The problem is that I want to produce many iterations of the chassis for FEA analysis. This requires the CAD model to be very easy to update and modify. So far I have had problems updating tube joints whenever I wish to change the chassis geometry.
Could anyone give me some advice on how to produce a more flexible model in CATIA?

 

[Azrael]

What kind of problems with the tube joints?? have you considered using a skeleton wire frame approach and using 1d elements in FEA? If you have the PEO (optimizer) workbench you can speed up the iterations and automatic target a certain goal

 

[m1mason]

may I suggest knowledgeware along side the skeleton modeling approach. If you build formulas and parameters into your design you can quickly change a couple of values and the design will update. it will become a configuration. a bit tricky to setup in V5 but you'll end up with good results in the end.

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