Assessment of the Possibility of Validating the Durability Testing Method for Large-Sized Vehicles Based on Changes in Shock Absorber Characteristics—Preliminary Tests

Abstract

The use of road simulators in vehicle durability tests enables a significant reduction in time related to the implementation of a new product. However, there is still a need to improve the methods of these tests in order to obtain a full correlation between the time of the tests on the simulator with respect to the mileage of the vehicle in real road conditions. The aim of this work is a validation and improvement of the durability testing method for large-sized vehicles. Comparative tests of shock absorbers dismantled from semi-trailers with different mileage and shock absorbers dismantled from semi-trailers after durability tests conducted at the MTS test bench are presented. The relationship between the maximum damping force and the displacement speed of the shock absorber piston was examined. Additionally, the influence of the shock absorber temperature on the damping force was analyzed. As a result of the tests, the dynamic characteristics of the shock absorbers were determined and the relationship between the maximum damping force and the mileage of the trailers was determined. It was found that the load on the trailers during their operation has a significant impact on the change in the characteristics of the shock absorbers. What is new in this publication is the validation of the methodology for conducting durability tests previously proposed by the authors based on the selected component, which is the shock absorber. The authors have not yet encountered in the literature any attempt to validate the methodology for conducting durability tests for large-sized vehicles.