The knowledge gained about the durability of the materials used forms the basis for the structural design of a product under development, whether as a phase of a part, component or complex structure in a product life cycle. The corresponding structural design is tested here under the expected operating loads, in order to ensure maximum safety, flexibility, reliability and cost effectiveness.
Component tests in the early stage of every product life cycle are essential and help, for example, to significantly lower costs by means of intelligent test cycles under the most realistic possible conditions. Typical areas of development in which component and structural tests are used regularly are both Parts and Power Transmission in the automotive industry. Other sectors and industries include rail, engineering and construction, machine and plant engineering, household appliances and wind energy.
Applications for component and structural testing can therefore be found in virtually every area of science and technology. Depending on the type of task to be solved there are diverse requirements for the degrees of freedom of the loads exerted on the unit under test, or for mechanical, thermal and chemical loads.
Application advantages result from the compact design and high precision or the robust design and ease of integration in existing mechanical structures, without having to accept compromises in precision or the overall construction of the test benches and the core components that are used. Our examples of applications on this website give you an impression of the range of possibilities and the measuring spectrum with force transducers and multi-component transducers from GTM for component and structural tests: The examples described here are a practical application from the field of healing fractures and an efficiency measurement of a nacelle test bench in a wind energy conversion system.
To better describe the requirements and general conditions of test bench measurements, classification by components and structures is useful:
Component Tests
Generally, single components are tested. Most common are uni-axial test bench solutions, but multi-axial solutions with integrated high-precision GTM force transducers are also used.
Structural Tests
As a rule, composite structures or constructions are tested, which require more complex and more extensive test benches and test procedures. That is the case for example in the automotive and aerospace sector, or also in wind energy conversion systems. Both uni-axial and multi-axial GTM force transducers or complex multi-axis systems systems can be used here in combination with high-precision mechanical constructions.
Areas of application & Industry sectors
Especially GTM force transducers of the K, DR, RF series, with their high precision and low sensitivity to parasitic influences such as transverse forces, bending moments, torsional moments and temperature fluctuations, are ideal for widespread use in component and structural testing.
GTM multi-axis transducers and systems of the MKA or XY series as well as MPF series are likewise a perfect solution. The MPF series for example especially when high insensitivity to interference is required, as in rolling resistance test benches. Multi-axis sensors of the RLS series are especially suitable and optimized for use in half axle test benches, in pairs in axles test benches, and in groups of four for life tests in chassis test benches. Proof of stability of wheels and rims in double-axle wheel test benches or brake disc test benches are likewise typical applications.
