Validation of a Virtual Prototyping Tool for Uniaxial Flexible Parts

Modern 3D CAD systems piping modules are powerful tools for modeling solids as rigid bodies but neglect their physical behavior. On the contrary, Virtual Prototyping requires the realistic representation of components especially for flexible parts. A finite element based system is presented to model flexible uniaxial components like hoses, wires and cables on the base of mounting and loading conditions. It interacts with a 3D CAD system in order to generate geometries and assess optimal solutions, interferences and overall stress condition. The proposed system requires an adequate validation in order to be efficiently integrated in the design workflow. The first investigated aspect was material characterization. Since metallic reinforced elastomeric hoses show non linear behavior, a simplified model based on mean section characteristics was drawn from numeric models and experimental measurements. Then, some significant configurations have been physically reproduced on a test bed, acquired through a Reverse Engineering system and compared with simulation outputs of identical setups. The approach, the validation activity, results and some meaningful application examples are presented in the paper