Failure Assessment of Electronics Component under Gravel Bombardment Test in Automotive Electronics

Exposing sensors to environment without any physical protection introduces risk of failure due to collision with small hard objects like stones. This type of interaction is tested during product validation by usage of gravel bombardment procedures, originally designed for evaluating resistance of surface coating to chipping by gravel impact. While useful for practitioners, this procedure is difficult to be used during product design and virtual validation since it does not provide statistical measures regarding gravel size, mass or velocity distribution of moving gravels. Consequently, computer simulation must assume certain properties of impactors. The following simulation methodology evaluates risks associated with gravel bombardment test. It is based on impact force transmission through interconnects belonging to big and/or critical electronic components.