Test Methodology Development For Rig Level Validation Of Light Weight Stabilizer Link Of EV Bus Suspension

In the modern and fast growing automotive sector, reliability & durability are two terms of utmost importance along with weight ad cost optimization. Therefore it is important to explore new technology which has less weight, low manufacturing cost and better strength. The new technology developed always seek for a quick, cost effective and reliable methodology for its design validation so that any modification can be made by identifying the failures. This paper presents the rig level test methodology to validate and to correlate the CAE derived strain levels, life cycle & failure mode of newly developed light weight stabilizer link for EV Bus suspension. Stabilizer link replaces the existing separate arrangement of anti-roll bar and parallel rods and light in weight by 30kg.This stabilizer link arrangement is having the short lever arms which are connected through torsion bar which goes under twisting moment and the short lever arms are intended to control wheel motion in longitudinal direction. The stabilizer link is connected with a rubber bushing on one end to axle and other end through hanger bracket to chassis long member. The CAE simulation was done for articulated load condition and durability test rig set up was designed comprising of servo hydraulic actuators to validate the stabilizer link. The stabilizer link torsion bar and short lever arm was instrumented with strain gauge to acquire strain data in articulated load condition on designed set up. Also, the separate test set up was established for calibration of torsion bar. The rig level test results showed up 95% correlation with CAE derived strain level, failure mode and life cycle.