Vehicle Dynamics
Vehicle Dynamics
Vehicle Dynamics
ABSTRACT
2. TIRE DYNAMICS 7
3. STEERING DYNAMICS 8
4. SUSPENSION
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5. WEIGHT DISTRIBUTATION
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8. AERODYNAMICS 17
DYNAMICS 18
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CONCLUSION
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REFRENCES
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ABSTRACT
The forces imposed on the vehicle by the tires, gravity, and aerodynamics
determines its behavior during these conditions. The vehicle and its
thereby study the effects of these responses on the vehicle itself. Activities
within the Vehicle Dynamics group focus on the performance aspects ground
safety.
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similar fields. Computer simulation is often used to predict the dynamic
behaviour of vehicles.
This discussion takes an over view of the various factors that come into focus
subject.
Vehicle modeling has been used more and more in the automotive industry
due to both, the need for more rapid construction and evaluation time, but also
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Also, vehicle modeling can be used to test the behavior of the vehicle in
question of how simple the model can be made, but still be valid for its
and slip.
The most important co-ordinate systems are: The center of gravity co-
ordinate system, (CoG), and has its origin at the vehicle center of gravity and
is used as the reference for all movements of the vehicle body. The fixed
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Figure 1
describe the forces on the vehicle and has been used throughout this
discussion.
important element
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surface. This link depends solely on the friction between the surface and the
for different types of road surfaces are plotted. In the left part of the above
graph, slip within the tire is dominant, also known as tire squirm. This happens
when the tire deforms under load, and the contact patch moves relative to the
axle. This also causes slip angles to exist. In the right part, slip between the
two surfaces is dominant; in this case, the tire starts to slide sideways a little.
It is remarkable that µ reaches its maximum when there is a little slip; usually
it's between 5% and 15%. That's because rubber interacts with the surface in
a very special way. There are two separate mechanisms involved: hysteresis
and adhesion. As the weight on the tire and the amount of slip vary, the
proportion of the two components changes. For example, if there is more slip,
compound is very soft, the temperature is high and the surface smooth,
A good rule of thumb is, the more weight that is transferred away from a tire,
the worse that tire will grip. This rule does not apply in direct proportion to
weight transferred to a tire; a tire having more weight transferred to it will not
gain as much grip as a tire having the same weight transferred away from it. In
other words, if the vehicle is going through a certain corner with 250 pounds
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on the right front, and 200 pounds on the left front, and it makes a setup
change that puts 270 pounds on the right and 180 pounds on the left, then it
will lose some from the total grip being produced by the front end of the
vehicle. The increase in grip on from the right front will more than offset the
3. STEERING DYNAMICS:
This happens when the front tires don't have enough weight on them, and they
start to slip, hence creating a slip angle. A slip angle is the angle between
where the tire is pointing and where it actually is going. Each tire has its own
slip angle. The slip angle of the front tires is the angle between the dashed
lines and the continuous lines. As shown in the figure 3 below, the car is not
turning around the point we'd expect, or want it to turn (where the dashed lines
intersect, point N). Instead, it is turning around the intersection point of the
continuous lines (point U), which makes for a larger turning radius than
expected. This is understeer: when the turning radius is bigger than we'd
like it to be.
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Under Steer
Figure 3
OVER
STEERING:
a condition called
oversteer, where the turning radius is smaller than we'd expect it to be. As
seen in the figure 4, the rear tires have started to slip, creating slip
Over Steer
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representing the slip angles always intersect at the point the car is rotating
around. If they don't, the tire with the least amount of weight on it (in this case
the inside front) will develop a slip angle. Notice that the point which the car is
rotating around (O), is now much closer to the center of the car, and more
towards the front. The car will turn very sharply, much sharper and earlier
than expected.
Driving situations, which can directly induce vehicle rollover, are excessive
maneuvers or disturbance impact like side wind gusts. Vehicles with a high
from an overestimation of the vehicle's roll stability which varies due to large
Roll Over
Figure 5
It is clear that the ratio of the track width (T), to the height of the CG, h+hR,
(the so called track width ratio) is the most important vehicle parameter
affecting the rollover risk, and accident analysis results confirm this fact. A
rollover coefficient R defined is that which basically depends on the track width
ratio and the lateral acceleration at the center of gravity of the vehicle's sprung
mass. For values of R< 1 the vehicle is rollover stable, for R = ±1 the vehicle's
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left or right wheels lift of the road. Where, ‘ay,s’ is the lateral acceleration and
4. SUSPENSION: [7]
Figure 6
The assembly of, the chassis, the front and rear axel, along with the dampers
i.e. the shock absorbers, and leaf springs, constitutes the suspension system
of a vehicle.
2. maintain good contact between the tire and the road; minimize normal
force variation.
2. Independent type.
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SOLID AXLE
SUSPENSIONS: [4]
Solid axles are good for carrying heavy loads but are pretty bad for road
Figure 7
packaging room. Most common solid axle suspension is the, Hotchkiss drive,
in which leaf springs support the axle and provide directional stability in the
Independent suspensions let one wheel move without affecting the others.
Another advantage is that they give more packaging space…we can slip an
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They are ideal for FWD vehicles and can be designed to give less roll steer
Independent Suspension
Figure 8
Predicting how a car will react when various types of forces are applied to the
tires, can be simplified by studying the roll centre concept. A roll center is an
point in space.
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Imagine a car, driving in a circle, as can be seen in the figure 9, with a
center point, but because the car is dynamically balanced, there should be a
force equal but opposite, pulling the car towards the center point.
This force is provided by the adhesion of the tires. The forces generated by
the tires can be combined to one force, working in the car's roll center.
figure 12:
more efficiently a given pair of forces can generate a torque onto the chassis.
This moment is called the roll moment. Note that it is always the vertical
distance between the CG and the RC, since the forces always work
horizontally. Figure 10
The torque generated by the two forces will make the chassis roll, around the
roll center. This rolling motion will continue until the torque generated by the
The difference between the two torques, the resultant, is what makes the
chassis lean. This resultant decreases because the torque supplied by the
springs increases. So the speed at which chassis roll takes place always
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decreases and it reaches zero when both torques are equal. So for a given
spring stiffness a big roll moment will make the chassis roll very far in the
corners, and a small roll moment will make the chassis lean over less.
A different problem arises now; the location of the roll center changes
Now the question that arises is: what’s the best, a high RC or a low one? It all
depends on the rest of the car and the track. One thing is for sure: on a
bumpy track, the RC is better placed a little higher; it will prevent the car
from rolling from side to side a lot as it takes the bumps, and it will also make it
possible to use softer springs which allow the tires to stay in contact with the
bumpy soil. On smooth tracks, we can have a very low RC, combined with
conditions.
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F is the distance between the CG (green) and the front axle, R is the distance
(1)
(2)
Obviously, this will have its effects on handling: more weight on a tire means
the car will have a lot of rear traction, which is nice to have
towards the front, the car will have a lot of steering, but it
out.
The drawings alongside and below, represent two cars; the first one (figure
12), has all the heavy stuff located at its ends, far removed from the CG. The
their roll angles will also be identical. Yet they will not
inertia is different. The first car will react slowly, turn in a little sluggishly and it
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will generally be more reluctant to change direction. The second car will
except for the fact that they have their weight distributed
differently: the first one (figure 14), has its heavy components lined up
along its lateral axis, and the second one, (figure 15), has its heavy stuff
Figure 14
lined up along its longitudinal axis. So the first car has a very large
small
one around its lateral axis. In other words, this car will react
very
slowly while cornering; it will move from side to side (roll) very
slowly. But, it will move from front to rear (pitch) very easily, this might be
beneficial for quick braking, but it will make the car bounce back and forth
For the second car, the opposite is true: it has a large value for its
Figure15
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rotational moment of inertia around its lateral axis (not drawn) and a very small
one around the longitudinal axis. This means that the car will roll quickly, and
be very responsive in turns, but it will be very stable front to rear. This helps
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6. DYNAMIC LOAD TRANSFER: [5][6]
In dynamic conditions, load can transfer to the front wheels (during braking),
the rear wheels (during acceleration), and side to side (during cornering).
the analysis of acceleration, braking, and cornering because the axle loads
determine the tractive and steering forces available at each wheel, affecting
c hW
Wf = W− Ax (3)
L L g
b hW
Wr = W+ Ax (4)
L L g
Equations (3) and (4) work for both acceleration and deceleration provided the
is kept constant.
the vehicle brakes, inertia will cause a shift in the vehicle’s center of gravity
and weight will transfer from the rear tires to the front tires. This is
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weight will transfer from the front to the back during acceleration. This is
known as squat.
idea of, how a car responds to the driver’s style of handling it, the analysis of
its acceleration and braking abilities is necessary. Figure 19, shows the
Wf and Wr = normal
forces.
patch. Figure 17
Fyf and Fyr = steering forces act in the ground plane at the tire contact patch.
these forces do not act at the center of rotation for the vehicle, and thus create
moments.
ACCELERATION PERFORMANCE:
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reaches its peak acceleration because the engine cannot deliver any more
power. In traction limited acceleration, the engine can, but does deliver more
power, but vehicle acceleration is limited because the tires cannot transmit
any more driving force to the ground. Equation (5) gives the maximum
transmittable force:
Fx = µ Fz (5)
exceeds this limit, the tire slips excessively and enters dynamic friction, where
The acceleration of the vehicle (and therefore the longitudinal forces on the
( W + Wr ) a τ eNtf ηtf
( M + M r ) ax = x = − Rx − DA − W sinθ (6)
g r
geometry, the drivetrain, and lateral load transfer caused by engine torque.
BRAKING PERFORMANCE:
(W ) D
( M ) ax = − x = −Fxf − Fxr − Rx − DA − W sinθ (7)
g
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Braking causes the vehicle to decelerate, which causes load to transfer to the
front of the vehicle. This is why brake pads are usually larger and heavier on
8. AERODYNAMICS: [5][9]
While designing racing cars, such as F1 cars, their CFD (Computational Fluid
In addition, the flow in different areas such as, flow over the front portion,
along the sides and also at the rear of the vehicle is coupled. The car will
perform best, and move fastest, when it disturbs as little air as possible.
car.
3. Balance: Is a change in the pitch of the car, such as when a car brakes
suddenly, which changes the way air flows over the car.
given by:
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Fd = 0.5 ρCd AV 2
(8)
to the direction of the airflow around the vehicle, airflow separation will occur
cornering.
Nevertheless, due to the coupling of the flow around different areas of the car,
functions.
For example, for a F1 car, the front wing both provides downforce and
conditions the flow through the underbody, diffuser and radiator air intakes. In
the aerodynamic forces vary with the tuning of various parameters such as
configuration
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Figure 18
Picture above (figure 20) shows the computer simulated image of an air flow
field around a car. Generally CFD analysis is done to determine the optimum
shape of a vehicle which will offer the minimum resistance to air flow.
the vehicle dynamics perspective. What computer simulation does is that it not
only reduces the fatigue of the designer, who has to take into consideration a
lot of things, which again consumes a lot of time but also gives far more
accurate results.
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For this purpose computer simulation models which are driven, by high end
employed.
Shown below (figure 21) is the model used by the AutoSensorLab simulation
software.
Figure 19
on the vehicle under test, viz. initial position of the vehicle, time elapsed from
its start, its instantaneous position, linear and angular (if any) velocities, the
driver’s input for acceleration or braking the tire pressure, the turning radius,
G.P.S. receiver are used. AutoSensorLab facilitates the user to configure error
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characteristics and behavioral idiosyncrasies of the individual sensors and
study the effects on the outputs under various conditions of vehicle dynamics.
The user can vary the vehicle’s acceleration, direction and altitude in real time
to create a dynamic scenario for analyzing the behavior of the sensors with
replayed to use the software as a data generator. This model simulates the
accurately simulated.
aspect to vehicle dynamics i.e. the study of vehicle behavior on soft ground or
loose snow. This subtopic assumes importance when we take into account the
rapidly growing market for Sports Utility Vehicles and especially military
under quasi-static conditions like constant wheel load. For this, the FEM
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of the terrain surface. The following axle of the vehicle will be excited by the
left back unevenness of the first axle, which again induces the excitation of the
Figure 22
The progress of the vertical oscillations of the cabin and of the vehicle’s center
excitation was chosen that leads mainly to a pitching of the vehicle. This
behavior is pointed out with figure 21, where it is demonstrated, that the
vertical motion of the cabin increases more and more, according to the
pitching of the vehicle, while the vertical position of the center of mass remains
There, the pitching angle of the vehicle crossing the soft wave track is
compared to the according rigid wave track. The reaction of the soil
increase of the amplitude of the pitching angle on the soft ground. There, the
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maximum angle is not only determined by the deflection of the tire and the
suspension, but as well by the sinkage of the wheels. The more the vehicle is
pitching, the more the dynamical wheel loads are increasing and the more the
soil will be deformed. That’s the reason, why the amplitude of the pitching
angle increases on soft ground, while remaining nearly constant on the rigid
track.
Figure 23
The some of tests that are performed on vehicles for determining their
testing.
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• Swept steer test.
Figure 24
Vehicle handling and ride quality are becoming more important today as
vehicle manufacturers compete for customers to buy new cars and trucks. A
key factor in the ride and handling of vehicles is the suspension. Vehicle
the wheel plane and its direction of travel on the road. The suspension
contributes to tire forces by controlling the wheel attitude relative to the vehicle
also need to minimize parasitic energy consumers such as tire wear and
CONCLUSION:
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The present study has shown us how a vehicle is influenced by the different
kind of forces that act on it. To accurately simulate the operation of a vehicle,
we must have knowledge of the various forces acting on the vehicle. These
Importance of the Center Of Gravity can be gauged from this discussion and
how it affects the cornering, steering, balance and weight transfer capabilities
REFERENCES:
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[2] Accord Software and Systems, Bangalore, User manual.
[3] Vehicle Dynamics Control with Rollover Prevention for Articulated Heavy
Christoph Kölsch.
acceleration
Dx = Linear deceleration
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Fxr = Rear axel braking force
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