Nelsen and Parmentier 1

1. Introduction
A common cause of failure in mobile devices, such as cell phones or tablets, is the impact caused
when the device is accidentally dropped by the consumer. Actual drop testing is time-consuming and
expensive, therefore companies rely on finite element models in early design phases. A major concern
with smart phones is the strength of the cover glass. Smart phone producers may opt to use finite element
software testing of a model phone with cover glass to examine when the glass will fail.
In this study a finite element model was developed to simulate an iPhone 4 being dropped on its cover
glass (face drop) and side of the case (edge drop). An explicit dynamic analysis was performed using
ANSYS/LS-DYNA to analyze this study.
2. Verification
2.1. Reason
In order to justify the use of ANSYS/LS-DYNA software, a verification problem will be solved
analytically then compared to the softwares solution. The case that will be examined is a drop analysis of
a block onto a spring scale. This is similar to the iPhone drop, therefore this verification case will prove
that the final result is valid. The comparison of results and program file for this verification example is
available in the ANSYS LS-DYNA verification manual (VME2).
2.2. Description
From a height of 2 meters, a 30 kg block is dropped onto a spring scale pan which has a mass of
10kg. The spring of the scale has a value of 20 kN/m. The maximum deflection of the pan will be
determined. Figure 1, shown below, is a diagram of the verification model which may be found in the
verification manual VME2.

Figure 1 Verification Model

The loading, geometric properties and material properties (found in VME2) are shown below in
table 1.

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Table 1 Material Properties, Geometric Properties and Loading

The size of the block and pan were chosen arbitrarily (referenced analytic solution does not take these
variables into account as they are unnecessary). The meshing of both the block and pan was relatively
coarse.
2.3. Results
The result of the simulation is shown below in graph 1:

Graph 1 Spring Displacement vs, Time Plot

From the plot it can be deduced that the maximum displacement is -0.226 meters. The analytical
solution yields -0.225 meters [1]. The ratio between the ANSYS LS-DYNA result and the analytic
solution is 1.004 which is in good agreement. This verifies that ANSYS LS-DYNA is suitable and
accurate for the iPhone drop analyses.

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3. Model Development and Assumptions

3.1. Model
Lack of public information on the iPhone 4s device lead to difficulties in the modeling
development. Certain actions and precautions were taken to account for this lack of knowledge.
During the modeling rounded corners were seen as insignificant for our calculations, thus to
reduce computation time, they were left as sharp corners. Similarly, the speaker, front camera,
and home button were left out of the model due to lack of major effect on our results. Internal
dimensions of the model were approximated from qualitative examination of the iPhone 4 for
components such as frame dimensions, materials, adhesive thickness, and gap lengths.
3.2.
Materials
Through research it was determined that both Corning Gorilla Glass and Corning LCD glass are
used in a modular design for the front screen on mobile devices. The adhesives that are
commonly used are Liquid Optically Clear Adhesive (LOCA) and Pressure Sensitive Adhesive
(PSA), and were used in the finite element model. The frame of the phone was assumed to be
Aluminum 6061-T6.
3.3. Explicit Dynamic Elements
In the model, the Solid 164 element was used to model the frame, cover glass and LCD glass.
This element is used for 3D modeling of solid structures. Shell 163 is used to efficiently model
thin structures, and was used to model the adhesives due to their small thicknesses.
3.4. Model Dimensions
Figure TBD shows the top view, from which the model was created using quarter symmetry and
the dimensions shown in Table TBD. These dimensions were taken from detailed drawings of
the iPhone 4, intended for phone case design.

Figure TBD Top View

Width (mm)
X-direction
LCD

Height (mm)
Z- Direction
58

Depth (mm)
Y - Direction
78.2

30

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OCA
PSA
Cover Glass
Base Frame

58
58
58.3
58

78.2
0.3
115.2
115.8

0.1
0.1
0.5
2

Left/Right
Edge Frame

0.45

115.8

9.3

Top/Bottom
Edge Frame

58.9

0.6

9.3

Table TBD
3.5. Mesh Details
While creating the model emphasis was placed on top down modeling. Using this method
allowed for continuity of elements which ensures greater accuracies in the results. Quarter
symmetry was used and Figure TDB shows the top left corner of an iPhone 4. The block
command was used to appeal to the top down model, which allowed for control over the mesh
density. Using an increased mesh density, emphasis was placed on the adhesive between the
glass and the frame of the phone. This is because under impact from a drop this is a common
area of failure. A course mesh and finer mesh model were used to validate the results.
3.6. Constraints and Boundary Conditions
During impact simulation testing the contact conditions upon impact are extremely important to
the calculation, inaccurate contact conditions can lead to an unreliable model. For this simulation
the impact loading was modeled as nodal acceleration. An acceleration from 50 G to 150 G was
applied with a 50 G increment
3.7. Loading Details
Free-fall model simulation is very complex and takes into account free-fall, pre-impact, and
post-impact calculations of the object under testing. This makes the computational expensive and
difficult to optimize. To combat this the Input-G method is used to simulate the forces
experienced during a drop test. Using the edplot command in APDL Figure FBD was generated,
which is a plot of the forces verse time applied to the phone.
Figure TBD Force vs Time Plot

Figure TBD Coarse Mesh Model

4. Hypothesis
Due to the significantly higher yield strength of aluminum compared to Gorilla Glass, when the
impact testing is completed, the Gorilla Glass will be the cause of yield in the model. To account for
this finer mesh was created near the contacts between the Gorilla glass and the aluminum frame of the
phone. Due to robust design of current cell phones low G drops will no longer cause failure of the
device. However, once the impact reaches a force of approximately 75 G failure will start to occur.

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5. Results

An applied acceleration was applied to the area shown below in Figure TBD.
Figure TBD Applied Face Drop Loading
Different applied accelerations were analyzed to investigate the resultant Von Mises stress on
the cover glass. The results were then divided by the cover glass Youngs modulus in order to
determine the factor of safety and, more importantly, to see if the glass would break. The results
of the three different simulations are shown below in Table TBD.
Applied Acceleration
(normalized by
gravity)
15
150
1500

Maximum Von Mises

Stress of Cover
Glass, MPa

Cover Glass Youngs

Modulus,
MPa

Factor of Safety

Table TBD Face Drop Results

An applied acceleration was applied to the area shown below in Figure TBD.
Figure TBD Applied Edge Drop Loading
Different applied accelerations were analyzed to investigate the resultant Von Mises stress on
the cover glass. The results were then divided by the cover glass Youngs modulus in order to
determine the factor of safety and, more importantly, to see if the glass would break. The results
of the three different simulations are shown below in Table TBD.
Applied Acceleration
(normalized by
gravity)
15
150
1500

Maximum Von Mises

Stress of Cover
Glass, MPa

Cover Glass Youngs

Modulus,
MPa

Factor of Safety

Table TBD Edge Drop Results

6. Discussion of Results
Von Mises yield criterion will be used to determine when the device will experience yield. This stress
can extracted from the post processing stage of the ANSYS software. The equivalent strain will also
be viewed.
7. Conclusions

8. Future Work

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This model used a simplified model in order to reduce computational expense while
remaining accurate. The rounded corners, camera hole, camera light hole, speaker hole and home
button hole were omitted from the model because their influence on the solution will be minimal.
More detailed modelling of the phones internal structure may change the results, but not too
drastically as the main areas of impact will still experience the same magnitude. A more inclusive
model may be useful for identifying other core components that may fail after a drop event such
as the touch screen sensor, speaker, camera, camera light, internal wiring or internal printed
circuit boards. Additional applied accelerations may be investigated if desired. Materials used to
create the model were not exact to what is actually used in iPhones. By changing the material
properties to exact materials of will yield much more realistic results. In addition, applying a
phone case to the model to investigate which phone case models are most effective in reducing
stress generated from drops would be an area of interest.
9. References
[1] F. P. Beer, E. R. Johnston, Jr., Vector Mechanics for Engineers, Statics and
Dynamics, 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, NY, 1962, pg. 635.
[2]
Corning
Lotus
NXT
Glass.
Corning
Incorporated.
Web.
https://www.corning.com/media/worldwide/cdt/documents/Lotus_NXT_Glass_PIFinal-Eng.pdf.

[3] Chirag Shah. Transient Dynamic Simulation and Full-Field Test Validation for a SlimPCD under Drop/Impact. Thesis, Binghamton University.
10. Appendix
ANSYS LS-DYNA APDL CODE: