This paper on "AMAP: Arvin Modal Analysis Program for Vibration Analysis of Automotive Exhaust Systems" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Design, Simulation & Optimisation: Reliability & Applicability of Computational Methods - 9-11 April 1997, Stuttgart, Germany.

Summary

The AMAP vibration analysis system was developed by FEA Ltd as an extension to the LUSAS general purpose FE system. AMAP was commissioned by Arvin Exhaust R&D, Warton, England in order to reduce the time taken to produce reliable FE models of automotive exhaust systems. The system dynamics models required include highly idealised representations of complex sub-assemblies. This forces a different approach to that used for component level analysis, since direct transfer of 3-D CAD models is not helpful. Instead, a partially automated "top down" approach is adopted, where AMAP provides a strict framework for model creation and verification, analysis set-up and post-processing. This imposes discipline and consistency on the analysis process, whilst still yielding man-time reductions of around 50%.