ASSESSMENT OF HYDRAULIC SURGE BRAKE EFFECTS ON FATIGUE FAILURES OF A LIGHT TRAILER

摘要

Fatigue damage of light trailers is a common method of failure. In the current study, it was suspected that actuation of the hydraulic surge brake was contributing to fatigue failures of a light trailer drawbar. The trailer was subsequently instrumented and tested at the U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center (ATC). Testing was performed, both with a normally operational surge brake system, and with the system physically disabled. Of interest in this paper, are the statistical effects of the braking system on the measured trailer drawbar strain in the region of failure. Results show a slight contribution of the brake torque to the measured strain. However, other measured responses (accelerations and angular rates) showed the terrain profile and vehicle speed to have a more significant contribution to the measured strain.