Prediction of fatigue life of suspension parts of the semi-trailer in the early stages of design

Abstract

Abstract Cargo delivery by trucks is a main method of transportation of goods to the cities and other places. Many goods are transported by articulated lorries. Thus, improving the design methods of the articulated lorries is relevant. Trailer suspension is the object under study. A fatigue life prediction of the trailer suspension components is a urgent task at the early stage of design concept development. The formation principles of the MBD model is essential in obtaining best results. In this paper two types of models are considered: containing only the rigid bodies; containing the flexible bodies. Research objective: the investigation of the effect of the load distribution that was obtained using different MBD models on the durability of suspension parts. A comparison of the results obtained using the different suspension models was performed. The research has shown that loads are reducedusing the flexible bodies in the MBD model. Using flexible bodies permits to specify the results of the durability analysis.