Application of Non-Square Matrix Simulation Technique in Accelerated Life Evaluation of Vehicle

Accelerated life evaluation of vehicle has become the order of the day with the continuously decreasing development time for product development. With the rapid progress in the computer aided design area, today it is possible to feed-in virtual test tracks so that even before a prototype is made, a life estimate could be arrived at. Further, the advent of rapid prototyping has also resulted in reducing the time required for development of prototypes considerably. This has put the proving engineers under tremendous pressure in reducing the time required for design validation. This has resulted in a number of techniques being developed for reducing number of tests required as well as test duration in validation of the prototypes. One such technique is non-square matrix simulation. This technique can also be used for the investigation of failures and validation of the modifications.

This paper describes the technique of non-square matrix simulation and a case study of how this technique was used to investigate the failures of a cross member of a commercial vehicle chassis and also to arrive at and validate the modifications. The material fatigue data is an important tool available for fatigue design. Application of material data and its proper understanding can lead to optimum design. An illustrative example of two comparable materials which behave differently in fatigue at high and low strain levels; and its implication in the selection of material for the application of the above cross member, is discussed.