Drop Test Simulation for Electronics and Enclosures

This page is part of our mechanical simulation services within Engineering & Firmware. We focus on drop and impact simulations for electronic devices and enclosures, from handheld instruments and wearables to battery modules and rack units.

What we do

We simulate drops and impacts so that your electronics and housings survive both lab tests and real-world handling. Using explicit dynamic FEA with test-correlated load cases, we predict crack and clip failures, boss pull-out, PCB hot spots and display or glass risks. The outcome is not just colourful plots but concrete design changes that improve pass rates and reduce the number of physical prototypes.

Outcomes we aim for

• Demonstrated robustness for typical drop heights and orientations
• Reduced peak strains in plastics, bosses and screw seats
• Lower PCB risk for components and solder joints through board-level checks
• Stiffness and damping improvements via ribs, foams or pads without adding weight
• Evidence packages aligned with common lab methods such as IEC, MIL, JEDEC or ISTA, ready for your chosen test lab

Services

• Test mapping and acceptance criteria – definition of orientations, heights and floor types plus pass or fail metrics that match typical lab processes.
• CAD preparation and meshing – defeaturing, contact partitions, screw and snap-fit modelling, material models for plastics and elastomers with strain-rate effects where data is available.
• Drop and impact FEA (explicit) – floor models for steel, concrete, wood and other surfaces, tuned friction and contact, secondary impacts, edge, corner and flat drops.
• Enclosure weak-point analysis – ribs, bosses, latch and clip design, living hinges and standoffs, including buckling and crack-initiation risk.
• PCB interaction – support strategy, modelling of heavy components or connector masses, and hot-spot ranking for BGAs and connectors.
• Display and battery protection – glass stack stresses, foam or TPU isolation, frame stiffness tuning, potting and gap analysis.
• Optimisation loops – topology, shape or thickness changes, material swaps, foams and gaskets, plus cost and weight trade-offs. For lightweight concepts we can combine this with topology optimisation .
• Test planning and correlation – fixture concepts, sensor layouts, camera and data acquisition plans, acceptance matrices and simulation versus lab correlation.

Your deliverables

• Engineering report (PDF) summarising assumptions, meshes, loads and boundary conditions, key results, risks and prioritised design actions.
• Result packs with animations, hot-spot plots, CSV maxima and time histories, plus rendered images for stakeholder reviews.
• Design mark-ups with CAD callouts for ribs and radii, boss geometry, screws and inserts, foam and gasket locations. For broader CAD work we can connect to mechanical CAD design.
• Solver decks for tools such as Ansys, Abaqus or LS-DYNA plus post-processing templates or scripts.
• Validation plan with test list, acceptance table and correlation checklist.
• Handover session of 45–90 minutes with walkthrough and Q&A.

Technology stack

• Solvers: Ansys Explicit or Mechanical, Abaqus Explicit or Standard, LS-DYNA, Nastran as required.
• Pre- and post-processing: Workbench, ANSA or HyperMesh, Meta/Post and Python notebooks for custom plots.
• Materials: ABS, PC, PA, PP, glass-fibre reinforced plastics, elastomers and foams, aluminium and magnesium alloys, sheet metal, glass stacks and adhesive layers.
• Typical assemblies: handheld devices, wearables, consumer and industrial housings, battery modules, 19-inch rack units and instrument enclosures.

How collaboration works

• Discovery – clarify goals, target tests, boundary conditions and known field or test failures.
• Data and setup – collect CAD, stack-ups and material information; define meshing and contact strategy and acceptance criteria.
• Baseline simulation – run a representative orientation and floor to identify early risks and quick design fixes.
• Iteration and optimisation – update designs, rerun key cases and converge towards your acceptance criteria.
• Validation – prepare the test plan, support optional lab correlation and deliver final report and result assets.

What we need from you

• CAD data (STEP or Parasolid), assembly stack-ups and details for screws and inserts.
• Material data such as datasheets or allowables, plus specifications for seals, foams and adhesives.
• Planned drops: heights, orientations and floor types, plus information on shipping or storage risks.
• Success criteria, for example no functional loss, no visible cracks or maximum strain limits for specific regions.

Packages (examples, pricing on request)

• Assessment – quick baseline drop, hot-spot map and a small set of prioritised design actions.
• Simulation sprint – several orientations and floor types with optimisation loops, detailed design mark-ups and a full report.
• Correlation and optimisation – test plan support, fixture and instrumentation advice, simulation versus lab updates and weight or cost trade studies.

Example use cases

• Handheld measuring device passing 1.0–1.5 m drops after rib and clip redesign reduces boss strain by more than 30 percent.
• Battery module with added foam isolation and tuned standoffs to protect tabs and connectors during transport.
• Rack module surviving corner impacts thanks to bracket stiffening and updated screw patterns.
• Wearable device keeping glass intact with bezel stiffening and TPU bumpers.

FAQ

Which CAD formats do you accept?
STEP or Parasolid are preferred. We can also work with native CAD formats if needed.

Can you include PCB failure risks?
Yes. For global behaviour we use mass representations of components; for local trends we can build detailed submodels for critical regions such as BGAs or connectors.

Do you simulate multiple drops?
Yes. We can analyse sequences or distributions of drops and advise where physical testing is more efficient.

How accurate are the material models?
Where data is available we use rate-dependent plasticity and foam models. If data is limited we use conservative proxy materials and run sensitivity checks to bound the risk.

Do we get solver decks and animations?
Yes. Solver input files and animation outputs are part of the standard deliverables so that your internal teams and partners can review and reuse them.

Next steps

If drop test simulation is relevant for your product, we are happy to discuss your specific device and test plan.

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