Criteria to Determine the Necessity of Data Acquisition for RTS Drive File Development due to Vehicle Parameter Changes

Durability of automotive structures is a primary engineering consideration that is required to be assessed at every design and development stage. Due to limitations of the analytical and experimental tools, the current practice in the automotive industry is to conduct a new data acquisition over a proving ground schedule whenever there are changes in the suspension parameters. This is a time-consuming and expensive operation. This paper provides guidelines for product teams to determine if a new vehicle data acquisition is needed when there are changes in vehicle parameters, and the corresponding effect on Road Test Simulator (RTS) drive file development. The application of this methodology to a truck with and without tuned suspension parameters is described in detail.