Hydraulic Durability & Chassis Testing

MGA has been conducting Hydraulic Durability (“HD”) testing for over 20 years, and in that time has developed a national reputation for high quality testing services. MGA has performed an abundance of projects on systems and components including frames, chassis, suspensions, exhausts, trailer hitches, seats, and other interior and exterior components. These durability tests have been conducted for a wide range of foreign and domestic OEMs and their suppliers.

To meet industry demands, MGA has significantly expanded its capabilities over the past two decades, commissioning multiple new labs across Michigan and other North American locations. Presently, MGA operates several hydraulic labs in Michigan, along with facilities in South Carolina, Alabama, California, and Ontario. MGA’s laboratories are equipped with a comprehensive array of hydraulic equipment, ranging from MAST systems to Instron machines and everything in between. 

MGA Advantage

The Hydraulic Durability Group at MGA operates an extensive testing infrastructure, with each lab featuring sizeable bed plates with reaction masses and 200 to 400 gpm of pumping power. The group is comprised of 20 skilled engineers and technicians, who help each lab commence operations around-the-clock. Each facility is equipped with cutting-edge test equipment essential for hydraulic durability testing, including:

• Hundreds of MTS® and MGA built cylinders, ranging in size from 2.2kip to 135kip of force capacity.
• High speed actuators with 3-stage valve drivers capable of up to 120 in/s.
• MAST systems featuring tabletops ranging from 4’x6’ to 6’x8’.
• Latest MTS® controls with FlexTest controllers and RPC® Pro software.
• Large inventory of accelerometers and strain gages.
• Load cells ranging in size from 50 lbf to 200k lbf.
• Semi anechoic chambers for sound evaluations.
• Environmental chambers to evaluate durability in hot, cold, or humid conditions
• Mobile data acquisition equipment with dozens of channels.
• Sun load exposure lamps.
• Proper infrastructure to conduct large-scale dye penetrant inspections, a type of non-destructive test used to detect tiny cracks in test samples.

Industries Served

MGA is recognized worldwide as one of the leading independent testing services and equipment providers. MGA’s Hydraulic Durability group has established itself as a leader in validating components and assemblies across various industries, including:

• Automotive (OEM and Aftermarket)
• Off-Road 
• Aerospace
• Public Transportation (Bus/Train/Plane)
• Space
• Military
• Amusement park

Real Time Simulation

MGA has conducted real-time simulation testing since the inception of the group, accumulating unparalleled expertise. Our component experience ranges from spare ties, seating (LINK), cockpits (LINK), roof systems, exhaust components, to exterior components (LINK) and full frame/vehicles. This extensive knowledge has led to numerous successful single and multi-axis projects using MAST systems, as well as single or multi-channel fatigue stands. Current available test capabilities include:

• Vibration durability (single axis, 3 DOF and 6 DOF)
• Cyclic loading durability (single axis to 6 DOF)
• Dual MAST for exhaust and chassis durability
• Custom built 7 actuator systems for full vehicles
• Buzz, squeak and rattle sound evaluations
• Oscillation durability
• Environmental conditioning for all testing types

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Cyclic and Static Loading / Fatigue

MGA can execute strength and durability testing on a wide array of vehicle components including full/partial frames, axles, trailer hitches, recovery/tow hitches, and suspension components which include sway bars, cradles, control arms, knuckles, hubs, springs and dampers, link bars and more. Common test types include:

• Static Strength
• Permanent Set / Deformation
• Cyclic Fatigue
• Block Cycle Fatigue
• Torsional Strength / Fatigue
• Environmental conditioning for all testing types

Data Acquisition and Analysis

Determining the appropriate testing conditions is crucial in all aspects of vehicle durability testing. MGA is well-equipped for this task, capable of recording data for over 100 channels, including accelerometers, load cells, string pots, other linear transducers, strain gauges, pressure transducers, thermocouples, torque cells, and full road load data acquisition (RLDA). Other devices that can be recorded consist of CAN, OBD, GPS, and wheel force transducers (WFTs). MGA has experience in custom instrumentation, allowing for the development of innovative methods for capturing unique data requests. MGA data collection examples include:

• Tri-axial accelerometers for vibration durability
• Loads, displacement or torque for cyclic durability
• Full vehicle instrumentation for external CAE modeling comparisons
• Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA) for simulation testing
• Strain gage installation for stress concentration detection
• WFTs for full vehicle durability 
• Custom sensors tailored to meet unconventional needs
• Custom sensors design and calibration

When traditional methods are insufficient to capture the scope of work, a custom transducer can be a practical solution. MGA's instrumentation experts can transform nearly any object into a measuring device, regardless of its shape or size. Custom sensors can be calibrated to equate otherwise meaningless readings into valuable data. Examples include:

• Engine and cab mount load using strain gages
• Steering and suspension load strain gages
• Frame twist using strain gages
• Steering angle using a string pot

Dye Penetrant Inspections

MGA uses Nondestructive Dye Penetrant Inspections (DPIs) to identify and track issues through testing before critical failure. Inspection intervals and areas of concern are determined by the customer. MGA carefully photographs the entire inspection zone to catalog the state of the component at the current stage of testing. Any issues or cracks found are photographed beside a calibrated scale to track their propagation. Common uses of DPIs include:

• Manufacturing Process Validation
• Crack Nucleation
• Cascade Failure Visualization
• Weld Integrity Evaluation    

Data Reduction and Damage Analysis

Durability related testing is typically considered a time compressed simulation of a lifetime of real-world usage. In most cases, actual data, either in the form of strain or acceleration, is recorded driving on a series of roads that are considered to make up that lifetime. Following the data collection, a number of steps are typically used to go from the field to the lab including:

• Data verification and repeatability by reviewing multiple datasets of the same durability loop.
• Calculating damage to determine non damaging events of the proving ground schedule.
• Removing dead time and low amplitude data of the damaging events while maintaining an agreed upon damage retention (typically 95% of the baseline).
• Establishing a sequence playback using proving ground multipliers for an in-lab simulation.