Revolutionary Approach to Impact Simulation in Vehicle Development

The Chrysler Group has announced a revolutionary approach to technology required for impact simulations during vehicle development. The new hardware strategy utilizes a Linux cluster of commercial-grade PCs, also known as workstations, enabling the Chrysler Group to perform impact analysis simulation at a speed that is 20 percent faster than previously used hardware solution, maintaining the same precision required from the analysis of the simulations, and at a cost that is 40 percent lower than other solutions available on the market today. The automotive industry is continually working to improve product efficiency in areas such as variable cost, cycle time and function and performance of the vehicle.

One means by which great strides have been made is in the area of computer-aided engineering (CAE) and simulation. The new hardware strategy for simulation was born out of collaboration between the Chrysler Group's information technology team and IBM, Intel, Livermore Software Technology Corp (LSTC) and Red Hat. The cluster is based on Intel Xeon processors running at 2.2 GHz and utilizes Intel PRO/1000 server adapters, which provides fast, flexible connectivity while enhancing performance with uncompromising speed, security and scalability. LS-DYNA, a finite element simulation software widely used by the automotive industry to analyze vehicle designs, is also utilized in the cluster. The Chrysler Group will continue to look at new ways of applying the Linux Cluster technology to its other types of simulations.