During the Tour De France this year, you may have seen several commercials showing a certain rider trailing behind team vehicle after team vehicle with tailpipe after tailpipe leading the way. While the message of this spot predicts a future with electric vehicles and no tailpipes, we know here in the testing industry that the exhaust system isn’t going anywhere soon. It will only become more and more complex as it adapts to new requirements and technologies. It is more than just a tailpipe; in fact, it is a complicated component that must perform a very important job while retaining its durability in the worst conditions. The exhaust system is one of the most abused pieces of equipment on the vehicle. It is repeatedly exposed to extreme hot and cold, splashed with water and salt, vibrated, and exposed to the unpredictable obstacles and debris of the road.
Stricter emissions regulations have caused designers to come up with lighter designs that have additional components such as urea pumps and afterburners. Different catalytic materials have been selected to control the effect of exhaust gas on the environment. Some engineers have even experimented with plastics and composites to create innovative new light weight, high strength designs. All of which must pass laboratory testing before they can be released.
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MGA is pleased to announce its participation in the upcoming SAE 2010 World Congress event happening April 13-15, 2010 at the Cobo Center in Detroit, MI. This year, MGA presented a technical paper (listed below) relative to Simulation testing.
“Test Methods for Multi-Axis Simulation Testing per MIL-STD-810G” written and presented by David Nagle; Co-Authors Gerald Roesser, Terry Wilhelm (ArmorWorks); Presentation Date/Time: April 13, 2010 at 1:20 p.m.
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Over the past few years, MGA has continually expanded the facilities and array of services offered for real-time simulation durability testing. Typically, these facilities include systems and expertise related to Multi-Axis Simulation Tables (MAST), Electro-Dynamic (ED) vibration systems, and multi-channel fatigue capabilities. This fall, MGA has made its largest expansion yet into this area of testing technology. This expansion is part of a multi-year plan to convert the Elliott campus of buildings, purchased in 2005, to specialized test laboratories serving the needs of the automotive industry.
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For over 50 years, Mercedes-Benz has exposed its vehicles to a vigorous test track known as Heide-dauerlauf*. Located in Germany, this route provided Mercedes with a means of testing the life of a vehicle and its components in an accelerated manner*. In the modern era, Mercedes has re-created the conditions of this track at their facilities in Stuttgart and Sindelfingen*. Each vehicle is instrumented with accelerometers, and a courageous driver endures the vibrations of the test track at a regulated speed as acceleration is recorded at various locations*. This acceleration data is then delivered to the test lab where specialized software and equipment is used to reproduce the same vibrations.
MGA has performed Heide-dauerlauf or “Heide” testing on various seat programs for 6 years for various automotive suppliers. Currently, MGA-MI is capable of performing this vibration test on eight different test rigs. Each rig, known as a Multi-Axis Simulation Table (MAST), is capable of reproducing the six degree-of-freedom vibrations seen on the Heide track. The MGA facility in Troy, MI uses MTS FlexTest™ IIm and IIs software to operate each of the MAST systems. RPC Pro™ (MTS) is used to match the road load data provided by the customer.
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In recent history, a major concern for military vehicle seating suppliers has been the seat’s performance in the event of a mine blast. Many of our soldiers have been severely injured or killed in this scenario, and military design engineers are working to prevent these tragedies by equipping their vehicles with seats capable of preventing spinal or brain injury under these attacks. MGA Research has worked with many different military seat suppliers in testing for seat safety during mine blast simulation using our drop tower. This testing has helped our military customers develop energy absorption (EA) technology which is currently being used in the field. This testing is very useful, but we think vibration testing would prove to be equally as important. Vibration testing could prove to be a useful method of determining the structural integrity of the energy absorption mechanisms when exposed to stress in directions other than vertical. Our drop tower tests were conducted on new production seats, which raises an interesting question: would the seats perform nearly as well after the combat vehicle has been exposed to the rough terrain conditions seen in Afghanistan or Iraq?
Following a series of mine blast simulation tests, MGA developed an experimental vibration test for an un-tested military seat. This test was developed from a generic 6-axis rough road simulation profile. The military seat was secured to the surface of the Multi-Axis Simulation Table (MAST) which is a rig powered by six hydraulic actuators that is used to match 6-Degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) acceleration data. The seat was occupied with a dummy representative of a soldier equipped with their gear, and this dummy was secured to the seat. Throughout the duration of the test, we observed several occurrences of structural issues. We consulted the mine blast simulation engineers and discovered that we produced similar failures, as well as some new failures.
Vibration durability test setup on a 6-DOF MAST system
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Full Exhaust System Testing utilizing MAST Tables
Dual Mast Table Exhaust Test
Testing the complete exhaust system using MAST tables allows an OEM to expose the system to a life-time of usage simulated in a laboratory environment over the course of just a few weeks. This type of testing typically starts with the instrumentation of the exhaust system and vehicle with accelerometers, thermocouples and strain gages. Somat E-Dac acquisition systems are used to collect the road load data while the vehicle is driven over proving ground events. Data analysis and editing is done with nCode Glyph works analysis software. This allows the test time to be reduced while retaining the damage that the exhaust system would see for the specified durability schedule.
MGA can accept many formats of CAD data from the customer which is then used to design the test fixtures. Fixtures are built and certified to provide the mounting locations for the engine and the body side hangers.
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