Virtual simulation method to predict farm tractor durability load cycles for proving ground tests

Agriculture machinery industries have always relied on conventional product development process such as laboratory tests, accelerated durability track tests and field tests. Now a days the competitive nature seen in industry concerns need to enhance product quality, time to market and development cost. Utilization of computer aided engineering (CAE) methods not only provide solution but also could play key role in tractor development process. The objective is to assess the performance of virtual simulation model of mid segment farm tractor using Multibody System Model (MBS) for predicting the durability loads on virtual proving ground test tracks. Multibody simulation software MSC ADAMS is used to develop a virtual tractor model. Durability test tracks and simulation is carried out as per company testing standards. Data measurement is done using Wheel force Transducer (WFT) to study front and rear spindle forces and moments to evaluate the virtual model performance. Spindle vertical, longitudinal forces show good correlation with test data. The developed method can be used to predict farm tractor durability load cycles during design phase of tractor development.