Author : K. K. Gund, S. R. Gore, P. M. Patane, H. R. Kate and P. Z. Lokhande

Off-highway construction equipment sees structural loads of varying magnitude during their life. Load cases used in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) often tend to be conservative due to uncertainty in load directions and magnitudes. For cost-sensitive markets like India, the overdesign caused by such load cases tends to shadow the product’s market competitiveness. There is an increasing need of developing and using ‘optimal’ load cases during design. Method of ‘Load Reconstruction’ holds promise in this regard. It generates load estimates using strains; exactly the reverse of what an FEA does. It makes use of existing strain gage data to generate these loads using certain mathematical calculations. In the present Study, manual gear shift lever of an off-road vehicle is considered. Using the ‘Load Reconstruction’ technique upon the field test data, operator hand loads during actual gear-shifting are generated.

Keywords: Optimal load cases, Load Reconstruction, Finite Element Analysis (FEA)