Application of rainflow cycle counting in the reliability prediction of automotive front corner module system

The need for improvement in engineering reliability characterization for automotive components is nowadays becoming a major industry request. The post-design approach in determining reliability is inappropriate for an integrated product development process that aims to incorporate engineering life cycle requirements from the early stage. This paper intends to give a description of a method used in predicting the service loads in the reliability characterization of the automotive front corner module system. An accurate representation of the service environment as well as load histories is obtained from the proving ground by data acquisition. The acquired service load data is applied on durability test rig and number of cycles of the resultant random stress-time data is determined using rainflow cycle counting. Superposition of rainflow matrices is applied in order to replicate the actual service loads profile and cumulative damage analysis based on Palmgren-Miner rule is employed to determine life of components and system.