Quote:
Originally Posted by Wil Ferch
... [During the 1980's- on... whenever a new model ( of any car brand) was announced....it was typically accompanied by the statement....."new model is 40% stiffer than last year's model". Really?.......year-after-year?, spanning many years? You have to wonder.
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I find that completely unexceptional and to be expected. Here is why: it coincides with the widespread use of Finite Element modelling used for development of unit bodies on cars, along with much faster computers. I used these techniques (for heat exchange modelling) in the late 1970s on animals and they just crushed an Amdahl 470. I used FORTRAN and paid no attention to optimization of the code. I later found out that big car co.s like GM were using such models and had vectorized their code. Later, they had their own little CAE packages and etc.
So eventually, one could just buy the software off the shelf and run it on most computers. Ease of use means greater ability to simulate different solutions, and increased familiarity with the techniques should mean the continued incremental improvements you cite.
I'd bet the Germans have specified methodology for these measurements, tho it may not be the same as what SAE had.
A suitably motivated person - such as yourself - could easily search the SAE journals, and also perform comparative measurements.
For me, I will just save up some $$ and let Dave at TRE stiffen my '73 coupe (someday). He has posted a bit about this before - IIRC, it was the Framboise/Strawberry car he was modifying & I posted to him on that thread.