After back in March 2009 BMW announced it will focus all engine development efforts on the CATIA V5 software platform and after in March this year it signed a 5-year global agreement with Dassault, the carmaker now says it will use Abaqus Unified FEA (finite element analysis) software to engineer passive safety systems.
"This announcement represents an endorsement of our continuous investment in R&D and focus on providing the most reliably predictive finite element technology available today,” Ken Short, VP Strategy and Marketing for Dassault Systemes said in a statement.
“The automotive industry is emerging from a challenging economic situation, and those companies with significant competitive advantages will be positioned well to come back faster and stronger than before. We believe that Abaqus Unified FEA can help our customers reduce time and cost in meeting increasingly rigorous standards for crashworthiness and occupant safety.”
According to the two companies, Abaqus FEA proved it can delivered a higher level of predictiveness and repeatability compared with physical tests. Of course, the process is also cheaper than a trial and error approach.
The carmaker is not at its first experience with the software, as it began using it in 2004. Since then, BMW says, its use allowed for substantial cost and time savings for each vehicle project.
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