Service load simulation on multi-axis test rigs

Car manufacturers make extensive use of test drives on public roads and test tracks when developing a new vehicle. On the one hand, the test drive measurements are indispensable to optimize and sign-off the design of the car with respect to aspects such as durability and comfort, but are expensive, time-consuming, difficult to reproduce and uncomfortable for the driver. There is an alternative and increasingly popular procedure which measures load data in the field and then reproduces them in the laboratory using a multiaxial test rig. This article explains how new and innovative methods embedded within the LMS Time Waveform Reproduction module (TWR) allow more accurate simulations to be performed.