The overall goal of the vif-Centre is the application of virtual modelling and simulation as a competitive and innovative method of vehicle development. Styria, especially the Graz area, has evolved in the last decade into the centre of the Austrian vehicle industry, covering both the automotive sector as well as the railroad vehicle sector. The modelling and simulation environment envisioned in this centre is intended to cover all four main stages of the vehicle design cycle, i.e. virtual design, where, based on mechanical, thermodynamical and fluid flow aspects, the prime physical effects and interrelationships of components in a vehicle are developed and/or optimised; virtual engineering, where technological aspects of vehicle components are optimised with view to the manufacturability and competitiveness; virtual manufacturing, where complete production lines as well as the component performance will be optimised; and virtual testing, where the overall behaviour, in particular from the perspective of functionality and safety, is assessed based on the virtual models and their coupling with physical devices in a hardware-in-the-loop. The strength of this concept is the permanent availability of the intermediate design results for all versions and variants developed throughout the design history. The virtual development is therefore much faster, more complete and more economic than the real physical development. Keywords: Crash; Pedestrian Protection; Out of Position; Sliding Collision; Mass Balancer Systems; Acoustic Behaviour; Wheel-Rail Contact; Track Quality; Traffic Simulation; Virtual Driving Stile; Thermal Management; Heat Transfer; CFD; Climatic Comfort; HVAC; Under Hood Flow; Virtual Mockup; Digital Manufacturing; Cost Management; Dynamic Workflow. Subject areas: Allgemeine Elektronik; Betriebliche Datenverarbeitung; Betriebswirtschaftslehre; Betriebswissenschaften; Computer Software; Computerintegrierte Fertigung (CIM); Computerunterstützte Animation; Computerunterstützte Simulation; Computerunterstütztes Entwerfen, - Produzieren (CAD/CAM); Eisenbahnwesen; Elektrische Regelungstechnik; Elektrische Steuerungstechnik; Elektro- und Biomedizinische Technik; Fertigungswirtschaft; Fördertechnik; Industriebetriebslehre; Informatik; Informations- und Datenverarbeitung; Kraftfahrwesen; Maschinenbau; Maschinendynamik; Mechatronik; Messtechnik; Strömungslehre; Supercomputing; Technische Mechanik; Thermodynamik (auch: chemische -); Tunnelbelüftung; Unfallforschung; Verbrennungskraftmaschinen; Verkehrstechnik; Verkehrswesen; Virtual Reality; Wärmetechnik; Werkstoffprüfung, Material- Co-operating partners: AVL List GmbH (Austria) AVL Zöllner (Germany) Concept Technologies GmbH (Austria) MAGNA STEYR Engineering Center Steyr (Austria) MAGNA STEYR Fahrzeugtechnik AG & Co KG (Austria) Obrist Engineering GmbH (Austria) OMV AG (Austria) Siemens Restraint Systems (Germany) Siemens SGP Verkehrstechnik GmbH (Austria) TMS Produktionssysteme GmbH (Austria) voestalpine Eisenbahntechnik (Austria) Funded by: Land Steiermark (Austria) Stadt Graz (Austria) Steirische Wirtschaftsförderung (SFG) (Austria) TiG Technologie Impulse Gesellschaft mbH (Austria) Contact: [email protected] For further information please see: http://www.virtuellesfahrzeug.at or ......... (under construction)