Virtual prototyping used as validation tool in automotive design

Virtual prototyping (VP) is more commonly used alternative to rapid prototyping (RP) to validate products without substantial investments. This article covers recent advancements in VP technologies to accommodate kinematics and use them to evaluate functional aspects of automotive designs. Traditionally to validate effective function of the product, prototypes were constructed in the earlier stages of design. These prototypes were used to validate design functions of new products. Subsequently products were launched for production runs after corrections were made for issues found during prototyping stages. VP techniques use advancements in software tools to mimic the physical prototyping of product. The new advancements of using function parameters in soft tools added new paradigm in VP techniques. Kinematics with function parameters such as load conditions, motions are added using force (F) and motion (M) functions in design scenario. Kinematics used in virtual environment uses positions, velocity, acceleration, inertial forces, and power requirements, of all the components in mechanisms to recreate virtual effect on the models. Comprehensive engineering designs are produced reducing product design cycle by saving time, costs in set ups and manufacturing the physical prototypes. This extension of virtual design process for physical sampling is unique and was developed, implemented successfully in automotive design application. In this paper experimental study conducted on a car carrier, which is developed under authors responsibility has been used to illustrate VP techniques.