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A hybrid approach to predict road-induced loads in vehicle structures is presented. The technique involves full vehicle dynamic simulation using measured wheel forces, absolute wheel vertical displacements, and steering angle as input. The wheel vertical displacement is derived from the measured wheel acceleration. This approach avoids the use of tire-road interface modeling. It also improves the conventional loads measuring process with minimum instrumentation and data acquisition. Existing load data from a test vehicle is used to validate this approach. Computed component loads show good agreement with measurements.

In the current design process, the designer generates the detailed geometry of the component based on experience. Prototypes of this design are built and tested to verify the performance. This design - build - test iterative process is continued until performance targets/criteria are met. Computer Aided Engineering is often used to verify the design. This paper presents a new product development process to substantially reduce the number of design - analysis - build - test iterations. This Upfront Analysis Driven Design process incorporates several state of the art technologies in finite element structural analysis, optimization, and Computer Aided Design. This process ensures a near optimum design in the first design level itself.