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A truck-trailer combination is modeled using ADAMS/Car from MSC Software for handling and ride comfort performance simulations. The handling events include a double lane change and lateral roll stability. The ride comfort performance events include several sized half-rounds and various RMS courses. The variables for handling performance evaluation include lateral acceleration, roll angles and tire patch normal loads. The variables for ride performance evaluation are absorbed power and peak acceleration. This study considers the trailer spring stiffness, anti-roll bar and jounce bumper gap as the design variables. Through DOE simulations, we derived the response surface models of various performance variables so that we could consider the performance sensitivities to the design variables.

A tire may be one of the most critical and complex components in vehicle dynamics and road loads analyses because it serves as the only interface between the road surface and the vehicle. Extensive research and development activities about vehicle dynamics and tire models have been published in the past decades, but it is still not clear about the applications and parameter identification associated with all of these tire models. In this literature review study, various published tire models used for vehicle dynamics and road loads analyses are compared in terms of their modeling approaches, applications and parameters identification process and methodologies. It is hoped that the summary of this literature review work can help clarify and guide the future research and development direction about tire modeling.

An outrigger is the device that is mounted on a test vehicle to protect it and/or its driver during handling test maneuvers, such as double lane change, constant radius cornering, J-turn, etc. The design of the outrigger is challenged by the constraints associated with its size, installation flexibility, strength, weight, and moment of inertia for a minimum or negligible impact on the test vehicle dynamics. To achieve an appropriate design of an outrigger for a specific vehicle, it is essential to determine the appropriate dynamic loads that the outrigger needs to support after its geometry and installation scheme have been determined. In this study, a flexible representation of an outrigger is mounted on a military vehicle that is simulated on a NATO double lane change maneuver at the given forward speeds.