Evaluation of the Temperature Distribution and Structural Deformation of the Car Dashboard Subjected to Direct Sunlight

Abstract

Abstract A situation in which the car is directly parked under the sunlight needs to be considered as one of unavoidable operating conditions.The thermal phenomenon perceived by car dashboard might affect its functionality. The biomechanical function of the dashboard focused on the thermo-structural evaluation due to the direct sunlight was numerically simulated and investigated in this work. Polypropylene was chosen as the main dashboard material.The aims are to evaluate the temperature distribution, stress distribution and structural deformation of a car dashboard subjected to direct sunlight and due to the outside air goes inside the passenger compartment through an air duct.The material yieldsa small temperature gradient due to both direct sunlight and air flow through the air duct.By imposing 400 W/m2 heat flux on the dashboard surface, the stress distribution mainly occurs in the part of the applied constraints and the air duct placement, which has maximum value 19.56 MPa. The displacement of the dashboard is 0.0357 mm which is chiefly experienced by the front-centre part of the dashboard surface.