STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS OF THE CHASSIS OF A LIGHT TRAILER

Normally, the project engineer uses generic formulations that hide critical situations and adopts high coefficients of safety. In this work numerical tools of simulation are applied to analyze the structural dynamic behavior of a light trailer passing through in a secondary highway. This work detects and evaluates the critical point of the chassis of a light trailer used for luggage transportation, up to 350 kg. In this way, first is constructed one mass-spring simplified model. This model is required for realizing the dynamic test that simulates cycles of work for one road profile type, and for obtaining the descriptions of the transmitted forces. Having on hands such results, then a model of the trailer is created where different profiles of beams and plates are used for application of loads obtained in the previous process. This model is called global and supplies enough information on critical points of the system. Once the most critical points are identified on the model, one global/local analysis is applied for studying such critical region in order to improve the confidence of proposed alterations. These results supply important information to the designer, making possible that modifications in the design can be best realized to improve the performance of the product.