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Fatigue Sensitivity Analysis Technique for Developing
Accelerated Durability Test Load Cycles Based on Damage
Prediction from CAE Model
Mathialgan Balaji, B. Jaiganesh, Selvakumar Palani, K. Somasundaram, and Srinivasa Rao
Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.
CITATION: Balaji, M., Jaiganesh, B., Palani, S., Somasundaram, K. et al., "Fatigue Sensitivity Analysis Technique for Developing
Accelerated Durability Test Load Cycles Based on Damage Prediction from CAE Model," SAE Technical Paper 2016-01-0412, 2016,
doi:10.4271/2016-01-0412.
Copyright © 2016 SAE International
Abstract
Tractors are the self-propelled vehicle which finds its major
application in agriculture, haulage and construction equipment. The
product development cycle time of a tractor is more as compared to
automobiles since it has to undergo rigorous field testing. Bringing
more realistic component and system level validation in the test lab
will drastically reduce the product development cycle time.
Non-availability of standard usage pattern and customer-correlated
proving ground pose a bigger challenge for bringing the field
conditions to the lab. As a result, the tractor has to be instrumented
with sensors and load-time history needs to be acquired as per real
world usage pattern. Raw data from the field cannot be used directly
for lab testing since the number of load cycles will be very high. Raw
data have to be edited based on damage calculation and fatigue
sensitivity analysis technique. One of the major requirements for
damage editing is the availability of local strain value at the critical
locations. Conventionally component/system has to be instrumented
with a strain gauge, to be mounted on the test rig and data has to be
acquired in the lab. Measuring strain data with the proto samples will
lead to time consuming instrumentation activity.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to predict the damage values
of the component / system from the computer aided engineering
model. Based on the predicted damage values from the computer
aided engineering model and fatigue sensitivity analysis technique an
accelerated durability load cycle has been developed. This method
has been implemented for developing a test duty cycle for one of the
new tractor development programs. The benefits of this exercise
include:
• Accelerated durability load cycles developed without any
physical part.
• Actual component/system CAE model used for deriving the
damage values, hence component/system sensitive accelerated
durability load cycles can be developed.
2016-01-0412
Published 04/05/2016
Introduction
Designing and developing a trouble free vehicle is the biggest
challenge for any original equipment manufacturer (OEM). In the case
of tractors, this will be further challenged because of its off-road
application. Bringing field conditions to the lab can accelerate the
design process due to the known advantages of time reduction and
overall controlled environment testing which lead to repeatable results.
The accuracy of lab testing results predominantly depends on the load
inputs being used for the testing. Leese and Mullin [1] discussed about
the different kinds of load inputs used for durability testing.
Typical load inputs for any durability testing are listed below:
• Simulating random load data measured in the field
• Constant amplitude load cycles
• Block cycle loading
Simulating the random load data measured in the field will be the most
accurate and recommended methodology for durability testing. The
major constraint with this methodology will be: Time consuming and
requirement of sophisticated simulation software. Simple constant
amplitude load cycle approach will be the easiest among the above
three methodologies. But, constant amplitude load cycle approach is
too simple to precisely cover all the variable amplitudes of measured
random load data. Block cycles generated from the field data are most
common methodology followed by many OEM’s. Figure 1 shows a
different kind of load inputs used for durability testing.
Dodds [2] described a methodology for deriving the block load cycles
from the random strain data. Jimenez and Martinez [3] briefly
discussed about the importance of strain based damage editing in the
process of developing the block load cycles from proving ground
data. Generating a block cycle load for a small component is easier
since it requires a minimum instrumentation. However, data
acquisition process for the tractor has immense challenges.
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A case study on accelerated duty cycle generation for validating the

tractor Rear Axle Carrier (RAC) is discussed in detail in the
following sections.

Instrumentation and Data Acquisition

RAC is a primary structural load carrying member of the tractor.
RAC is subjected to vertical, longitudinal and lateral loads during
field operations. In the present work, vertical bending loads were
considered. Strain gauges were pasted on top and bottom of the rear
axle carrier and it was connected in full bridge configuration. Entire
rear axle carrier assembly was subjected to known loads and
calibrated against the bending strain. Figure.3 shows the instrumented
RAC and typical calibration setup photographs.

Figure 1. Input load cycles for durability testing

Paul.et.al [4] and Narkhede et.al [5] revealed the typical structural
loads measured during Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA), sensors
used and challenges faced for random load data into a block load
cycles. During RLDA additional strain gauges can be pasted in the
critical location and the measured strain data can be used for damage Figure 3. Instrumented rear axle carrier and calibration setup
editing. Complications in handling a number of sensors and
limitations in the data acquisition system make it difficult to add Instrumented RAC was assembled to the tractor. Data acquired with
more strain gauges during RLDA Conventionally costly proto parts different implements and different field applications as per RWUP.
have to be instrumented with strain gauges and data can be acquired Figure 4 shows a photograph of a tractor with implement during field
in the test lab setup. Measured strain data can be used for editing the data acquisition. Data was acquisition repeated with different drivers
random load data. and the number of runs for load data normalization.

In this paper, a methodology was derived for developing an

accelerated duty cycle from the random load data without any
physical strain measurement. Damage prediction from the CAE
model has been used as a technique for generating accelerated duty
cycle from the field data.

Methodology
In the new methodology, physical strain measurement with the
component/system has been eliminated. Damage prediction from
actual/component CAE model at the critical location was used for
accelerated duty cycle generation. The newly developed methodology
for duty cycle generation is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 4. Data acquisition with instrumented tractor

Data Analysis and Rain Flow Cycle Counting

Data was acquired in the field was first analyzed for removing the
spikes, drift and abnormal events which are called as preliminary data
cleaning. Figure 5 shows the plot of vertical bending load time history
measured during ploughing operation after preliminary data analysis.

Rain flow cycle counting technique [6] is a methodology globally

used for converting the random time signals into simple constant
amplitude cycles. In this paper, the range-mean cycle counting
method was used for deriving the rain flow histogram. Vertical
bending load time history in Figure 5 has been converted into rain
flow histogram as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 2. Accelerated duty cycle generation methodology
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Figure 5. Vertical bending load time history-Ploughing
Figure 6. Rain Flow Histogram
Range mean histogram represented in terms of bins with total no of
cycles in Table-1. As per RWUP, this data has to be extrapolated to
the tractor target life.
Table 1. Range-Mean cycles list from histogram
Application of Virtual Analysis Technique
In the newly developed methodology damage prediction from the
virtual CAE model has been adopted by the authors. One of the major
prerequisites for using the virtual analysis technique is to establish a
correlation between lab test setup and CAE model for an existing
component / System. Application of virtual Analysis technique has
been adopted by following steps:
• CAE Model Verification with the existing component/system.
• Damage prediction from actual virtual model
CAE Model Verification with the Existing
Component/System
Rear Axle carrier of existing tractor was instrumented with strain
gauge and data acquired in the lab setup. Virtual model was created in
CAE, and strain value was predicted in the same location for the test
lab load case. The process followed for establishing a correlation
between lab test condition and CAE model is explained in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Correlation establishment with existing RAC
Measured strain value on the lab setup and predicted value from CAE
are tabulated and compared in Table 2. The Correlation between lab
setup and CAE model was found to be 89%, which is reasonably a
very good correlation. This correlation value indicates the degree of
closeness between the lab setup and CAE model in terms of test
boundary conditions.
Table 2. Strain Measurement Comparison
Damage Prediction from Actual Virtual Model
The commercially available finite element software package was
utilized to develop the FE model of RAC. Figure.8 shows the FE
model of RAC in lab load case. The RAC and fixtures were modeled
with the solid tetrahedral element (C3D10) and the rear axle shaft
was modeled with beam element (B31). Fixtures are considered as a
dummy in this analysis. The boundary conditions of the FE model is
shown in Figure 8 were chosen to realistically map the conditions of
the lab test. The zaxis shows the loading direction and the y-axis
shows the out-of-plane direction. The fixtures were being supported
by rollers during testing. Accordingly, in the FE model, vertical
displacement was restrained on both left and right supporting fixtures
and center fixture was restrained in all directions except z-axis.
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Figure. 8. FE Model of RAC

The mechanical properties of RAC material, FG260 [7] are given in Table 4. Damage values predicted from CAE model
Table 3. The FE analysis is purely static and, therefore, inertia effects
were not included.

Table 3. Mechanical properties of FG260 (IS 210:2009) cast iron

Stress results of the baseline design provide an idea about load

transfer path and critical location on the part. Figure 9 shows the
maximum principal stress plot of RAC in lab load case. The fatigue
life calculations were carried out using the stress and strain states in
the element at which the maximum tensile stress develops for the
given load case.

Figure 9. RAC stress distribution plot

The commercial fatigue analysis software package was used to

predict the damage values of RAC. Load cycles from the rain flow
histogram as per Table 1 applied to the model and damage values
were predicted. Predicted damage values were summarized in Table 4
(as an example only- Ploughing load cycles considered)
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Fatigue Sensitivity Analysis-Damage Editing Validation

Validation of the newly developed methodology can be carried out by

• Performing the durability test with newly developed accelerated

durability test cycles, correlating the failure modes and cycles to
failure between the lab and field.
• Using Instrumentation (strain gauges) technique for arriving at
a correlation between the conventional methodology and newly
developed methodology.

Failure mode correlation between the lab and field will be the most
appropriate method. Rear axle carrier assembly was tested in the lab
as well as in the field. A total of 3 samples in the lab and one sample
in the field were tested and no failure was observed. As a second case
Figure 10. Fatigue sensitivity analysis
study, the above approach was used for generating a duty cycle for
Fatigue sensitivity analysis is nothing but a methodology for validating tractor Power Take-Off (PTO) shaft. Three samples in the
comparing the relative damage. This technique has been used in lab and one sample in the field were tested. Figure 11 shows the lab
many literatures [8,9], especially in the area of design optimization. test setup for PTO shaft torsional durability test.
The basic assumption in this technique is, even though the predicted
fatigue life /damage does not match with the actual life, ratio of
predicted life/damage holds good. Damage caused by individual load
cycles were summed up and total damage has been calculated.
Percentage damage contributed by individual load cycles was
calculated and summarized in Table.4 (Refer Cl 6).

Accelerated Duty Cycle Generation

Ploughing load cycles alone considered for the development of
accelerated duty cycle generation. Total 8567 load cycles were
available in the damage Table 4 (Cl-6), out of which 25 cycles Figure 11. PTO shaft torsional durability test lab test setup
causing maximum damage. The load cycles, contributing to
During lab testing failure was observed in the PTO shaft spline area
maximum damage alone has been used for accelerated duty cycle
at 803 hours, 756 hours and 794 hours and similar failure was
generation. Table 5 shows the newly developed accelerated duty
observed in the field testing also at 920 hrs. The failure mode was
cycle for validating the vertical bending durability life of RAC.
found to be same in the lab test with the newly developed accelerated
Table 5. Accelerated durability test block load cycle
duty cycles and in field testing. In terms of cycles to failure, the
correlation was found to be above 80 %. Lab test setup failure
photograph was shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12. PTO Shaft Torsional durability test lab failure details

Summary and Conclusion

Lab testing plays a significant role in the tractor product development
cycle. Development of an accelerated durability test load cycle, based
on RWUP is one of the key input requirements of the lab test. Damage
prediction from the virtual CAE model for accelerated duty cycle
development was successfully demonstrated in this paper. Validation of
this methodology was carried out with a PTO shaft. Using the new
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methodology, an accelerated duty cycle was developed for validating
the torsional durability life of a PTO shaft. Lab test results and field test
results were compared. Failure mode between lab testing and field
testing was found to be matching. Cycles to failure was found to be
correlated by above 80%.Since the sample size used for testing was
limited, cycles to failure correlation was found to be low. By testing a
number of samples, the exact correlation for cycles to failure can be
arrived at. It is evident from the above, damage prediction from CAE
can be used for developing an accelerated durability test cycle. Using a
similar approach accelerated durability test cycle was generated for rear
axle shaft, lower link, lift rod, top link, lift arm and front axle for the
new tractor development program.
Major Benefits arrived at from the experiment is listed below
• The accelerated durability load cycle was developed without
any physical part.
• Actual component/system CAE model was used for deriving the
damage values. Hence component/system sensitive accelerated
durability load cycle was developed.
References
1. Leese, G. and Mullin, R., "The Role of Fatigue Analysis in the
Vehicle Test Simulation Laboratory," SAE Technical Paper
910166, 1991, doi:10.4271/910166.
2. Dodds Collin J BSc. PhD “Structural testing of complete
vehicles, aggregates and components in the laboratory- The Test
Engineer's Handbook1”.
3. Jimenez M. and MartinezJ.,”Durability Tests”,13thWorld
Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, A23-537, June
2011.
The Engineering Meetings Board has approved this paper for publication. It has successfully completed SAE’s peer review process under the supervision of the session organizer. The process
requires a minimum of three (3) reviews by industry experts.
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Positions and opinions advanced in this paper are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of SAE International. The author is solely responsible for the content of the paper.
ISSN 0148-7191
http://papers.sae.org/2016-01-0412
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Definitions /Abbreviations
CAE - Computer Aided Engineering
OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
RLDA - Road Load Data Acquisition
RWUP - Rear World Usage Pattern
RAC - Real World Usage Pattern
FE - Finite Element
PTO - Power Take off