Vehicle Modeling and Service Loads Analysis

Road load durability computer simulations can be used to generate suspension road load data very early (4-5 years before Job #1) in a vehicle design cycle. With the aid of currently available software packages full vehicles (including tires) can be modeled along with the road profiles of the test track to be simulated. The results of the simulations are the displacements, velocities, accelerations, and loads vs. time histories at key points in the front or rear suspension. The design and development of a generic vehicle front and rear suspension is used to illustrate a method which utilizes a dynamic software package to optimize suspension geometries and to develop full vehicle models for road load durability simulations. The method begins with the suspension selection process for front and rear and carries through to road load simulations of a full vehicle model. The simulated road load data obtained can be used for component:

1. 1)
   Finite element analysis
2. 2)
   Fatigue analysis
3. 3)
   Lab test development