Due to flexibility, weather independency, reproducibility of loads and semi-automatic operation at all hours, test rigs are used in many stages of the vehicle development.
But the construction and dimensioning of the test rig, in this case a test rig for a truck trailer of the company SCHMITZ CARGOBULL AG, has to be capable to reproduce the required loads.

Aim of the project is to find a concept for the test rig by simulation, which should be as simple as possible, but still complex enough to achieve a load characteristic similar to that from the test track for all investigated units of the trailer. Furthermore, the required forces are to be calculated in order to design the mechanics, hydraulics and actors.

In a first step the vehicle ride over rough roads have been simulated, according to a test drive. This is nessacary in order to compare the load characteristics of the test track and the different concepts for the test rig at multiple points of the trailer. To investigate the correlation of the test track and the test rig, different concepts have been modelled and simulated in combination with the trailer tests. For the chosen concept the required forces and accelarations have been calculated and used as design criteria for the hydraulics and actors.

Already at the design stage it is possible to investigate whether the test rig will be able to reproduce the desired loads. Furthermore, required parameters for the layout of the test rig, e.g. acceleration and forces, can be determined.