Rhino Rack: Accelerated durability testing of a roof rack system

Challenge

Rhino-Rack offers a range of innovative, industry leading roof rack products that are suitable for travel, sports equipment and trade.

Traditional testing for these products involve extended track test procedures which come at a significant cost and logistical effort. Rhino-Rack is seeking an alternative method to test the durability of their products allowing for faster turnaround times to support the engineering workflow and get products to market in a reduced time.

Solution

The UTS Tech Lab team developed an accelerated durability test using the multi-axis simulation table (MAST) in the Structural Testing Facility.

The project will apply Rhino-Rack field data which accounts for acceleration and strain during track-based campaigns and condense it to equivalent energy/damage target response spectra. This will be implemented on the MAST to test products to the same standards that were achieved in an outdoor environment. It will reduce the test time from days to hours, achieving an equivalent outcome.

This testing solution will reduce the product development lifecycle, reduce testing time and improve time to market.