Accelerated Service Life Testing of Automotive Vehicles on a Test Course

The accelerated service life testing of automotive vehicles for durability to road roughness induced dynamic loads is often accomplished in the laboratory using road roughness simulation facilities 1-5]. However, such tests can also be accomplished by a carefully designed field operation on a test course 6], where both the speed of the vehicle and the roughness of die test course become variables that control the degree of the test acceleration. Field tests are generally harder to control than laboratory tests, but offer a greater degree of realism since the vehicle is fully operational during the test exactly as it will be in service. This paper formulates the criteria for accelerated service life tests on a test course, evaluates the assumptions that must be enforced to obtain valid results, and explores the sensitivity of the results to the critical test parameters, namely, the vehicle speed and the road roughness severity of the test course relative to the service environment.