Modern approaches of vehicle suspension durability evaluation at early stages of development

Abstract

Ensuring demanded service life of a vehicle is a relevant engineering problem. Currently, resolving this problem is heavily complicated. Modern tendencies of automotive industry assume shortened development cycle for new vehicles and sustaining wide lineup of cars for manufacturers. Performing long-term durability testing of vehicle subsystems is becoming limited. Meanwhile, methods of laboratory testing, which provide higher acceleration degree of damage accumulation in comparison with testing on proving ground, are progressing. Virtual simulation methods, which allow analyzing and optimizing a new design at early development stages, are becoming widespread as well. Modern durability analysis methods, based on laboratory testing and virtual analysis, and load cycle generation methods, used for testing and simulations, are considered. Some points are noted, such as an extensive use of described methods of durability research among foreign car manufacturers, and the relevance of developing this kind of durability evaluation methodology for the Russian automotive industry.