Gradient Load Evaluation of Chassis Frame Mounted Specialised Structure Designed for Heavy Off-Road Vehicles

Chassis mounted structures provide a levelled base to the transport vehicles intended for on-road and off-road driving. These structures acts as cushioning elements to sophisticated cargos like intelligent tracking systems placed in shelters closed environment. These structures need sufficient strength and rigidity to withstand the load variations arising from tire-road interactions during rough road travel. Such structures need special attention during the design phase itself in order to improve the specified payload carrying capacity with optimized dimensions. Present paper focuses on formulation of a specialized structure mounted on chassis intended to carry shelters. A scaled prototype is manufactured and tested for different grade-load combinations. This is done through experimental strain measurement and analysis of the results. The data is acquired for nine different load magnitudes and is categorised into three sets as low, moderate and high magnitudes. Interrelation between the stress/strain values acquired during each load and gradient state is developed. The structure behaviour is hypothesized through the gradient strain measurement outcomes. Major design concerns include the spacing and orientation of cross-members, load locations on the structure and the road profiles. Cross-country and rough road terrain behaviour of the structure is attempted in present work.