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Fuel economy is an important customer requirement which determines the position of earth-movers such as backhoe loaders in the market. Earth-movers are heavy duty machines that are used for construction works. Currently fuel consumption in earth-movers is quantified as fuel consumed per unit time (Liters per hour). Similarly, conventional measure of productivity of the earth-movers is in terms of volume of soil trenched per hour. Measurements using the above scales showed wide variations in measured fuel consumption and productivity, For the same equipment between measurements Two equipment of same make at different trench locations and Against the competitor equipment This inconsistency and lack of a proper measuring system made logical decision making extremely difficult. This paper describes the step by step procedures involved in deriving the methodology for robust fuel consumption measurement of earth-mover vehicles.

Commercial vehicle industry is often provoked to assess suitability of the most currently available steels in lieu of traditionally used ones. Such material substitutions are attempted even if the existing ones happen to be tried, tested and proven over a period of time. Motivation for an exercise of this sort is usually from the considerations of favorable cost, availability, manufacturability, durability, strength-to-weight ratio, etc. A rigorous route to carry-out such a feasibility study would be through physical prototyping and testing. This is usually an expensive and time consuming proposition. Virtual analysis, on the other hand is a more viable option. This paper proposes an even easier alternative of using the available test data to estimate fatigue life of an identical component made of a different material through use of established rules such as Neuber's.