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Body in White (BIW) torsional stiffness is an important parameter for passenger vehicles, influencing its behavior regarding Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH), durability and handling. A BIW with high stiffness may impact mass and cost since it would be necessary to add reinforcements and/or increase thickness of the panels with more contribution for this parameter. An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) may have to choose an existing platform to continue a particular vehicle family and this decision will be based on mass and costs. This work aims to study a relationship between mass and stiffness of some platforms, trying to give an auxiliary parameter to help in the OEM's decision, differentiating the stiffness of the lower (platform) and upper body.

This paper presents a new methodology, based on large application of CAE tools, intending to evaluate the static and dynamic behavior of automotive vehicle bodies; therefore the definition of the operational safe life of these bodies. The structural behavior verification is performed up on computer simulation and FEA, using as dynamic load case, the internal loads transmited to the body, by the suspension system. The use of this methodology became easy to know the detailed structural behavior of each element in the various joints that compound the structure; permiting rapid action on project level to eliminate possibles problems and the synthesis of structure existents, without long and expensive experimental tests.