Accelerated lifetime test using a moment bar for a base frame of an aerial-work-platform vehicle

Abstract

The demand for high aerial work platforms has increased gradually. A safe and lightweight structure is necessary to cut short increasing costs of existing materials. To serve the purpose a base frame structure made of concrete and steel is developed for such a platform. However, it was difficult to replicate field conditions when testing the durability and safety of structure. In this study, the failure analysis of the base frame in the field operating condition for the reappearance and accelerated life test was performed. Also, the equations describing the characteristics of the aerial work platform for force and moment due to the weight and the wind at the top of the equipment were introduced and proved. Failure reappearance mechanism using the moment bar was applied for the force and moment simultaneously to the lower frame which reproduced the failure modes with the real size frame. Also, accelerated life test time was induced by using no failure life test time, the shape parameter, and acceleration factor which should be considered with the field operating conditions. The performance test was conducted after attaching the strain gauges at the weak points of the lower frame to prove the effectiveness of the moment bar. The strain values taken from the finite element analysis had the consistent results with the experimental data. It means that the moment bar can be applied to the other aerial work platforms.