In today’s market, faster product development without compromising durability is essential. Durability assessment ensures a vehicle maintains structural integrity under normal and extreme conditions. Achieving this requires effective Road Load Data Acquisition, integrated with robust design practices and efficient validation processes. However, physical RLDA is time-consuming and costly, as it depends on prototype vehicles that are often available only in the later development stages. Failures identified during these late-stage tests can delay the product launch significantly.
This study presents a full digital methodology of fatigue life estimation for suspension aggregates. A study has been demonstrated on Rear Twist Beam component of rear suspension. The approach integrates the digital RLDA methodology presented in literature and finite element analysis simulation process, enabling durability assessments entirely within the virtual domain. This approach demonstrates how digital RLDA-derived loads, combined with finite element analysis simulations, can accelerate the product development life cycle by avoiding dependency on physical RLDA loads for durability assessments. This allows for proactive durability assessments without extensive dependency on Rig Level component testing, aggregate level testing, physical prototypes and RLDA loads.
The proposed digital framework is validated against experimental results and shows strong correlation with actual fatigue behavior. It provides a reliable and efficient tool for early design phase fatigue assessment, supporting faster design iterations, reducing Computer-Aided Engineering loops and thereby minimizing development time and costs. This paper describes the advantages of a fully digital approach to the product development lifecycle using Digital RLDA and finite element analysis simulations over the traditional approach of vehicle validation.