Technical Paper
Methodology for Durability Evaluation of an Automotive Trailing Arm Damper Pin Using Road Load Spindle Acceleration
2016-04-05
2016-01-0408
Suspension system is one of the most important systems in an automobile and the failure in the sub systems or parts would prove catastrophic. A semi-trailing arm (STA) suspension is an independent rear suspension system for automobiles where each wheel hub is located only by a large, roughly triangular arm that pivots at two points onto the chassis or the body. STA usually is subjected to three directional loads viz. vertical, longitudinal and lateral in service. The conventional methodology of validating the system is by applying multi-axial loads or by road load simulation consuming significant amount of time. In this paper an attempt is being made to validate the damper mounting pins by reproducing the damper loads locally instead of validating the entire system. STA was strain gauged at the critical locations and was mounted onto the vehicle.