Multi-input Markov chain equivalent fatigue loadings

Journal article, 2009

In the automotive industry, temporal, financial and human constraints impose to improve the design process of new vehicles. In order to reach the optimal design for mechanical components of cars, both the service loading and the component strength need to be considered. The equivalent fatigue approach, used at PSA Peugeot Citroën, is a method for transforming complicated loadings into simpler ones, equivalent in terms of damage, without information about the geometry of the structure. We use the equivalent fatigue approach for the design specifications of metallic structures, for the conditions of their tests trials, and finally for the characterization of customers and markets. The case of the one input equivalent fatigue approach has been thoroughly investigated at PSA. The current work treats the extension of the equivalent fatigue approach to the case of multi-input loadings. Especially the aim of this paper is to develop Markov chain models for the equivalent fatigue loadings.