ARC now conducts official Durability Verification for Commercial Vehicle Aftermarket Products using ARC's standardized road loading and terrain pattern simulation using our 7-Post test facility. We offer 100k, 200k, 300k and 400k standard verifications. Each 100K verification takes 70 hours to achieve. Along with damage assessment, ARC monitors and records standard wear and tear of aftermarket components.

Achieving a mileage gateway means that the specific part tested did not fail after being run/loaded under ARC's standardized road loading and terrain pattern simulation for the specific mileage gateway recorded. Test results do not specifically take into account abnormal load inputs such as striking other objects or improper installation.

ARC can apply various vibration profiles to the article being tested. Using accelerated test methods one hour of shake inputs results in a simulation of 1440 miles. Thus, one week of testing is equivalent to 100,000 miles. At any point during the testing, the rig can be paused and a design check completed, from bolt torque to crack checking. This allows for a rapid improvement cycle.
For aftermarket and add-on parts, ARC has the in-house capability to take the parts to be used, whether a digital model exists or not, design the mounting structure, complete the installation, run the testing and produce a full report for the client.

The vibration input used is ASTM D4728 Assurance Level I. This method seeks to simulate the vibration environment of over the road trucks. This vibration profile is used because it is unusual for customers to have logged data of the actual vibrations experienced in use. A review of the available literature suggests that this is indeed a realistic input profile. Graph 1 shows this profile overlaid with data that was presented by Amgen in a paper entitled "Developing a Random Vibration Profile Standard."
In order to be able to simulate 100K miles in service in a timely and cost effective manner, it is necessary to use accelerated vibration testing. This results in a time compression by increasing the severity of the input vibration. >br /> Several publications give a range consistent with the above .145-.252 Grms values. Assuming the .145 Grms profile represents real world inputs, we can then use the ASTM Level I input to compress the time required to reach 100K miles. In this case the .145 Grms input occurred over 24 hours, which at 60 mph would equate to 1440 miles traveled. We can compress this by a factor of about 25 by running the ASTM .73 Grms input. In other words, it takes about 1 hour of shaker input to simulate 1440 miles traveled.
The test protocol and verification program is a simulation road vibrations. Part mileage verified on the ARC durability testing rig does not guarantee full real road correlation.