Selected aspects of motor vehicle dynamics on the example of a power-off straight line maneuver

Abstract

In this paper the selected phenomena related to motor vehicle’s motion have been considered basing on a computer simulation. The vehicle performed a power-off straight line maneuver with different road conditions being included. All simulations have been performed in the MSC Adams/Car environment based on the available sports two-seater vehicle model, realizing the adopted maneuver at the instant speed of 100km/h. This enabled observation of the selected phenomena along the road long enough to relate them to different aspects of vehicle dynamics research. As for the randomly uneven road, almost similar and almost different profiles have been assumed for the left and right wheels of the vehicle. Additionally, two values of the coefficient determining the maximum amplitude of road irregularities have been selected: 0.3 for lower and 0.9 for higher irregularities, so the road surface conditions along with the flat road have been considered as one of the factors causing disturbances of the motor vehicle motion. Such research seems valuable from the point of view of road traffic safety and vehicle maintenance. This specific example is a presentation of the possible research on vehicle dynamics as well as a potential background for further considerations including different types of vehicles along with almost different road profiles for the left and right wheels of the given vehicle model. A power-off straight maneuver is not performed very often in normal road traffic. However, such test could be valuable when analyzing influence of the selected motor vehicle parameters, such as uneven loading, suspension characteristics, etc. on such maintenance features as stability, steerability and the influence of external disturbances acting on the moving vehicle. Further research provides different maneuvers and different simulation conditions.