Life endurance testing of rubber springs

Rubber springs for railway bogies are important components for comfort and ride dynamics and have to meet special reliability requirements. Generally the proof of the endurance for new articles is only possible by means of si ngle- or multiaxial component tests. For this original component loads, whi ch are highly representative for the real vehicle service, have to be deter mined and then transformed into test signals. The sophisticated life endura nce properties of rubber springs as well as economic aspects have to be con sidered in a particular manner. The wheelset guiding bushes of the ICE II h igh speed trailer bogies are taken as reference to explain the typical elem ents of a life evidence procedure. In the present contribution the emphasis is put on the measuring of three-dimensional deflection signals during veh icle operation, the test signal design for multiaxial component testing and two different methods for an efficient statistical life evidence procedure .