Case Study: Wölfel achieves improved vehicle-seat comfort and realistic human-body simulation with Dassault Systèmes' Abaqus FEA (SIMULIA)

Wölfel uses Abaqus FEA and adds anatomical detail to improve design of vehicle seats

Wölfel, the German Seating Comfort and Biomechanics team in Höchberg, faced the challenge of predicting and optimizing vehicle-seat comfort and vibration-induced health effects without relying on expensive physical prototypes. To simulate complex human–seat interactions they used Abaqus FEA from SIMULIA — a Dassault Systemes product — together with their CASIMIR human‑body model.

Using Dassault Systemes' Abaqus, Wölfel enhanced CASIMIR with detailed anatomical continuum and discrete muscle models and ran static seating‑pressure and dynamic vibration analyses; the results correlated well with physical measurements, identified a problematic resonance near 5 Hz, and informed seat design changes used by OEMs such as BMW, Mercedes‑Benz and Ford. The approach significantly reduced prototype needs and cost (single hardware seats cost €10,000–20,000 and take days–weeks to build) by enabling model setups in under a day, speeding design iterations and lowering development risk.

Wölfel

Alexander Siefert

Assistant Manager for Seating Comfort and Biomechanics