Fatigue damage analysis on body shell of a passenger vehicle

A method for design durability qualification of a vehicle body shell is presented. Field test data were used to produce an accelerated durability test that retains all of the damaging real time load histories present in the original test cycle. Fatigue analysis methods are used to access and compare the fatigue damage imposed during durability test and laboratory (torsion) experiments. A numerical methodology (FEM) was used to determine the critical local stresses on the component. These stresses were then experimentally measured by using strain gauges. Field tests were performed over public road tracks (stone paved and land surfaces) for loaded and empty vehicles in the customer environment. This acquired data was used to simulate durability tests in laboratory. A correlation between the results obtained in the durability tests and those obtained in a torsion experiment in laboratory was done.