Title: Fatigue reliability of cars under road-induced cyclostationary excitation

Authors: Efstratios Nikolaidis, Honggang Wang, Akhilesh Jha, Dan M. Ghiocel

Addresses: Mechanical Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606, USA. Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. STI Technologies, 1800 Brighton-Henrietta TL Road, Rochester, NY, 14623, USA

Abstract: This paper has two goals: (a) describe a method for modelling special types of nonstationary loads on cars, called cyclostationary loads, and (b) demonstrate the importance of this method. Cyclostationary excitations are encountered in many real-life problems involving systems subjected to periodic, random loads. Using a two-degree-of-freedom model of a car travelling on a road made of slabs, the paper demonstrates that the proposed model estimates the statistics of the vehicle response and the fatigue life of its components more accurately than a traditional stationary model.

Keywords: vehicle vibration; cyclostationary process; road excitation; fatigue reliability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2001.001269

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2001 Vol.16 No.4/5, pp.404-416

Published online: 01 Jul 2003 *

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