Study On The Methods Of Strength Analysis And Test Of The Chassis Components Of A Minibus

This paper focuses on studying the methods of the finite element analysis of the front suspension and drive axle housing of a minibus and the determination of the wheel road load signals of the vehicle.The analysis loading conditions in the finite element analysis of the front suspension and drive axle housing include the vertical, lateral, longitudinal and braking loading conditions and the analysis forces are appropriately determined for those conditions. The software Hypermesh is applied to build the finite element models for the front suspension and drive axle housing, in which the shell elements and solid tetra elements are used to mesh the structures, the ball joint is simplified and modeled, and MPC elements are applied for more easily applying the constraints and loads. The loads and constraints are appropriately applied for each loading condition in the finite element models. The solver Radioss is used to process the models and obtain the structure stress and displacement distributions, which show that.the stresses in the front suspension and drive axle housing are below the material yield strengths, indicating that the strengths of them meet the strength requirement. The static calibration tests done show that the errors of the finite element analysis results relative to the measured values are smaller than 20% on most measurement points, indicating that the accuracy of the finite element models meets the requirement of engineering analysis.The locations for sticking strain gauges on the front suspension and drive axle housing are determined according to the results of the finite element analysis. And the strain gauges are sticked, with which the static calibration tests and the dynamic strain signal measurements are effectively done.The test rig for the static calibration is constructed, on which vertical, lateral, longitudinal and braking forces are applied to the front suspension and drive axle and the strain signals are measured in the same time. The force-strain relation matrix is determined by use of the forces and strains measured.The road dynamic strain signals are measured on the Hainan proving ground. The Running conditions include the emergency braking and running on the durability test roads.The force-strain relation matrix and the road dynamic strain signals are used to calculate the wheel road load signals, which are analyzed with the statistical tool. The waveforms and the statistical analysis results show that the obtained wheel road load signals are generally reasonable. Thus, the method for determining the wheel road load signals is effective.