Search Results

Currently in the automotive industry it is indispensable the evolution of technology applied in the design and manufacturing of components, either for a specific performance improvement or even as part of a cost reduction plan. For these main reasons, it has been constantly invested in methods that may help engineers to understand the dynamic efforts to which the components are submitted. In order to determine the loads suffered by the steering system of a vehicle in motion, the Group of Automotive Technology from the Lutheran University of Brazil (also known as “GTA”) conducted tests using a front-wheel drive road vehicle with a 1.4L transverse engine. The steering column (which joins the steering wheel to the steering gearbox ) and the tie rod (which connects the steering rack to the steering knuckle) were used as elastic elements to form load cells by the attachment of resistive strain gages in a full Wheatstone bridge.