In automotive, aerospace, and railway applications, electronic components may be exposed to many different types of dynamic accelerations. These dynamic accelerations can be of deterministic, stochastic of transient form. Printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) must be qualified according to international standards which emulate these accelerations, e.g., deterministic, stochastic, and transient accelerations are specified in IEC 60068-2-6, IEC 60068-2-64, and IEC 60068-2-27, respectively. Dynamic accelerations can lead to large surface strain values caused by bending of the printed circuit board (PCB) and to cracking of solder joints.
Our dynamic analysis process can be used to simulate the dynamic system response of an electronic component including PCBAs when subjected to deterministic, stochastic, or transient acceleration loads. In this process, the copper distribution in the PCB layers is considered as node dependent material field and the solder-joints are modelled as sub-structures based on detailed finite element models including an SMD lead and the corresponding solder-joint meniscus. Based on the simulation results, the strain on the PCB surface can be used to identify critical areas in the PCB layout. In more detailed investigations, the deformation, strain, and stress in the detailed solder-joint models can be evaluated if they have previously been reconstructed from sub-structure results.