​​​​​​​We were honored to have Will Mars from Endurica present at the SIMULIA Americas Users Conference, May 3-4, 2023 in Novi, Michigan.

Abstract: An elastomeric mount sees complex loads in service, and engineers must show that the mount can endure those loads. This presentation shows how the entire qualification procedure used by Ford for an elastomeric motor mount can be simulated in Abaqus and post-processed with Endurica. The loading schedule is composed of 144 different events recorded at the test track, each having as many as 6 input channels (3 forces and 3 moments). The analysis begins by computing a nonlinear map of finite element model stress-strain fields to a series of sampling points in the global load input space. This map is then used in Endurica EIE to rapidly generate full transient stress-strain history (15.6 million time steps!) for each finite element. This process produces 3.2 TB of stress-strain history, which is then passed to Endurica CL to solve for fatigue life. The analysis takes into account the elastomer’s nonlinear material properties, and correctly predicts failure location and fatigue life. The entire process was executed in 90 hours of compute time.

Bio: Dr. Will Mars is an international leader in the failure mechanics of rubber. He is the founder and president of Endurica LLC, and the firm’s products are now in use by thirteen of the top twenty global rubber part suppliers to manage durability. He is the author of the Endurica fatigue life solver, the world’s best-validated fatigue life simulation system for elastomers. Dr. Mars’ career focuses on applying experimental and computational mechanics in pursuit of better-performing rubber products and he has three decades of experience developing testing and simulation methods in the rubber industry. Dr. Mars earned his Honors BSME with Polymer Specialization at the University of Akron, and his MS and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Toledo. He has received several awards for his scientific contributions and innovations including the 2022 Herzlich Medal for outstanding impact and innovation in the tire industry, the 2020 Tibbett’s Award from the Small Business Administration of the United States for excellence in creating cutting-edge technologies, the 2017 Rubber Division ACS Arnold Smith Special Service Award, the 2007 Sparks Thomas award of ACS Rubber Division, and the 1999 Henry Fuchs award of the SAE Fatigue Design & Evaluation committee. Dr. Mars served as the chief editor of Rubber Chemistry and Technology for 10 years and is a former editor of Tire Science and Technology as well. He has over 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications and four patents in the area of elastomer durability.