Computational Methods for Dimensioning Support Structures of Commercial Vehicles 785042

The paper presents the following successive steps for dimensioning support structures for commercial vehicles:

- development of a computational model

- determination of collective loading

- stress calculation

- selection of a service-life hypothesis

- interpretation for dimensioning

These subjects are discussed individually.

Many applications of this method have led to the following conclusions:

The type of vehicle operation is of paramount importance. An example of a representative truck shows how the effective value of the dynamic loading, as a standard for the collective load, increases with increasing unevenness of the roadway. The effect on service-life is much stronger, however, due to the exponential relationship between load and service-life.

Service-life can be optimized with respect to shock-absorption; too weak of damping increases axle-loading and too strong of damping produces a strong, detrimental coupling of the masses.

Special service-life functions and nomograms are shown to be effective for quick estimations of dimensioning and the resulting vehicle characteristics. A compilation of such materials, which are based on normalized parameters, can often circumvent the need for rigorous development of computational methods.