A dynamic model of the vehicle door slamming for calibration of durability test rigs

This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of vehicle door slamming with the objective of enabling rapid and reliable calibration of durability test rigs. A minimal lumped parameter model is formulated to cap- ture the essential transient dynamics occurring after latch–striker engagement, reproducing both the contact forces and the vibration response that dominate fatigue loading in door locking systems. Comparison be- tween numerical predictions and experimental data demonstrates that the proposed minimal model accurately reconstructs the temporal evolution of contact loads and the characteristic damped vibrations following latch engagement. The results confirm that the essential physics of the slamming phenomenon can be reproduced with a reduced order approach, allowing identification of equivalent mass, stiffness, damping, and clearance parameters. These parameters can be directly used to guide the design and tuning of durability rigs so that they replicate the dynamic behavior observed on real vehicles.