Development of Durability Test Modes for Suspension Components under Multi-axial Loading

The recent improvement in CAE and testing technologies of vehicle structures could reduce the development time of new vehicle chassis platform. Moreover, it is important to validate the durability of a new chassis platform before making new prototypes. However, it is difficult to satisfy durability target for this new platform before the prototype phase. The optimized durability test modes of suspension components under the multi-axial road load could help to evaluate durability on the early phase of vehicle development. In this study, the RLDA (Road Load Data Acquisition) and DFSS (Design for Six Sigma) techniques are used to identify the principal loading from the applied multi-axial load on suspension components. This paper presents more efficient way for the determination of durability target of suspension components. Further more, the verification are described by comparing the results of component tests with that of a rig full vehicle durability test.