Stiffness Analysis

All structures need to have appropriate stiffness. It describes the resistance that a body has to elastic deformation and prevents a structure from stretching, thinning, bending or distorting to a non-permissible extent while in use. The stiffness itself depends on the structure's material and geometry. TECOSIM engineers study the stiffness of structures and analyse what geometry would produce optimum stiffness for a specific product and define what types of stiffness are suitable and beneficial for the product in question.

Different aspects are taken into account when establishing the optimum stiffness values: on the one hand, most products must feature flexibility to a certain extent as forces and vibrations occur when products are used. If products were completely stiff, damage could be caused by such forces and vibration. On the other hand, if a structure features insufficient stiffness, the structure may deform so much that the product cannot be used effectively.

TECOSIM engineers carry out comprehensive studies of static and dynamic stiffness:

• Static bending / tensile strength
• Static torsion / torsional stiffness
• Local static stiffness
• Stress analysis
• Local dynamic stiffness

TECOSIM develops solutions for improved geometric design of structures based on the findings from such studies. This development process also always focuses on lightweight design as the aim is to achieve optimum stiffness with the lowest weight possible.

TECOSIM also identifies dynamic structure properties using vibration analysis and NVH analysis.