Comparison of elastic structural behavior between traditional car steel door and composite door by FEM simulations

the static elastic structural behavior of the front lateral door of Toyota Yaris 2010 is analyzed by means of finite element method with ABAQUS 6.10 Standard. The door frame is made with two different materials: the traditional steel material (that is the Normal Production solution) and composite material (T300-5208, that is our innovative lightweight solution). The steel door model is taken from the existing finite model of the car while the composite models are developed by authors. There are three different parts in composite door structure: composite beams, aluminum alloy joints and adhesives. Maximum stress, maximum displacement and stiffness of specified direction are calculated in three load cases, as a result, it is found that the composite door models have better performances than traditional steel one. Further the estimated reduction in weight for the composite solution is of the order of magnitude of more than 50%.