Development of a novel tool used to support design and failure analysis of multiaxial fatigue loading: A case of steering knuckle

Abstract

The steering knuckle requires a lot of attention when designing because once it is damaged it must be replaced with a new one. In automotive industry, since the structure of steering knuckles is very complex and different from each other; it is difficult to design it separately for each vehicle. In order to address this problem, an innovative idea to solve this problem was developed and named as analysis support tool for steering knuckle of the entire vehicle. In addition to that, the development of computer tool that can assist designers in the analysis phase can save the design time. For this purpose, analysis support tool for steering knuckles of entire vehicles has been developed. The part is first modeled by Free CAD 0.2 software considering the precision of the geometry. Based on scientific approach analysis support tool for steering knuckle of all vehicles is developed which can provide analysis of all forces acting on the component, maximum displacement, fatigue damage, maximum deflection, slope, factor of safety, life expectancy, stress and strain amplitude by stress and strain method and compare the results from Morrow, Smith Watson and Walker equations. In addition to that doing experiment of multiaxial is very expensive and time taking for the designer; therefore, developing simple, accurate and robustness tool used to determine life expectancy and cumulative fatigue damage of multiaxial which can be applied to entire materials is very crucial. The developed tool would be universal, effective, simple, and efficient method used to estimate the life expectancy and Cumulative fatigue damage of multiaxial. Finally, data’s from open literatures are used to validate the accuracy and capabilities of the proposed tool for multiaxial fatigue loading. The end result is a computer tool that can be dedicated and run on any computer without using any internet connection