Research on the Parameters Influencing the Numerical Analysis of the Fatigue Behaviour of a Forklift-ARM

Estimating the remaining service life of a forklift for an objective reference is not only a requirement of the applicable legislation but also represents a challenge for specialized technical staff.

It is well known that the first fatigue failure element of a forklift is its fork. A simulation using the SolidWorks suite and its result is presented in this article. It allows the identification of critical areas of fatigue failure.

Based on the design of the subassembly and the loading scheme of the original product, the model under analysis with finite element was made on a 1: 1 scale. The filet areas also required a comparative analysis of the results obtained depending on the choice of mesh and discretization element.

Starting from the mechanical properties of the material as well as the association with the characteristic fatigue yield curves (Wohler), a method for estimating the remaining service life of the structure is proposed. The aspect related to obtaining exact results without an excessive consumption of computing resources was also taken into account.