Fatigue behavior analysis of a rear tow hook pin of a passenger vehicle

The main goal of this work is to analyze the fatigue behavior of an automobile body part, according to the standards of performance. The methodology is based on experiments performed on a rear trailer tow hook pin of a passenger automobile vehicle. Experiments were performed simulating the actual conditions in the customer environment. Stress and strain were experimentally measured by using strain gages, bonded on assembly critical points. Besides, stress analysis was also performed using a finite element program. Fatigue analysis is used to access and to compare the fatigue damage imposed during laboratory experiments.