ASABE Technical Library - Abstract
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DEVELOPING A DURABLE PRODUCT
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Pp. 1-24 in Developing A Durable Product: ASAE Distinguished Lecture #26, Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference, 20-23 February 2002, Kansas City, Missouri. 9130202.(doi:)Authors: Robert J. Plaskitt and Christopher J. Musiol
Keywords: Fatigue, Durability, Data Acquisition, Multi Body Dynamics, Finite Element Analysis, Rig Testing, Fatigue Life Analysis, Correlation
Traditionally, the assessment of durability and reliability in the ground vehicle industry has been
relatively ad hoc with end-users often being the first to discover durability problems and so, inadvertently, becoming
an integral part of the development process. Over time the industry has developed both field and laboratory based
procedures that aim to simulate typical or severe customer usage. These procedures have been used to develop
products by means of prototypes that are used to demonstrate the durability of the final product prior to its release.
Varying durability objectives have often led to similar but different testing methods and procedures.
Today, increasing commercial pressures to develop and deliver reliable products in a timely manner necessitate
more intelligent testing to be coupled with CAE procedures such as multi-body dynamics (MBD), finite element
analysis (FEA), and fatigue life analysis, (FLA) into a coherent durability engineering process. In the future, as
engineering processes come to rely even more heavily on CAE methods, engineering requirements will drive the
development of predictive methods and systems that are more efficient and robust and can address a wider variety
of applications than are currently possible.
This paper presents the methods for obtaining improved customer usage information and how that can be
included within a durability process to refine and accelerate vehicle development through both physical and virtual
methods.