Analytical Methods for Durability in the Automotive Industry - The Engineering Process, Past, Present and Future

In the early days of the automotive industry, durability and reliability were hit or miss affairs, with end-users often being the first to know about any durability problems - and in many cases forming an essential part of the development process. More recently, automotive companies have developed proving ground and laboratory test procedures that aim to simulate typical or severe customer usage. These test procedures have been used to develop the products through a series of prototypes and to prove the durability of the product prior to release in the marketplace. Now, commercial pressures and legal requirements have led to increasing reliance on CAE methods, with fatigue life prediction having a central role in the durability engineering process. In the future, as the engineering process comes to rely even more heavily on CAE methods, engineering and regulatory requirements will drive the development of predictive methods and systems that are more efficient and robust and can address a wider variety of applications than is currently possible.