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Drive components of live axle undergoes different loading conditions during field usage depending upon terrain conditions, vehicle loading and traffic conditions etc. During vehicle running, drive components of axle experiences variable torque levels, which results in the fatigue damage of the components. Testing of these drive components of axle on test rig for endurance life is an imperative part of axle development, owing to limitations of vehicle testing because of time and cost involved. Similarly, correlating field failures with rig testing is equally critical. In such situation, if a test cycle is derived correlating the field usage, rig testing can be effectively used for accelerated life testing and reliability prediction of these components. An approach is presented in the paper wherein test cycle is derived based on the data collected on vehicle in the field under service road and loading conditions.

In automotive industry, testing and validation teams are highly dependent on availability of prototype vehicles for testing and evaluation of ride & comfort behavior of vehicles. Special test tracks surfaces are also used (namely Tar road, Express way and driving over a Cleat) to evaluate the ride & comfort through subjective evaluation. Ride is largely affected by transmissibility of road excitations to the driver and other occupant’s seats, influence of suspension, bushes and tire are the major contributors in the transfer path of vibrations. A configurable 1–D simulation model of a Two Axle Truck is developed for quick evaluation of the ride & comfort behavior which is need of the hour for the testing team in optimizing the number of iterations in physical testing. These simulations will help in understanding the ride & comfort behavior and its sensitivity to changes in the component’s characteristics in absence of physical test vehicles.