THE VIRTUAL PROTOTYPE OF AN OFF-ROAD VEHICLE 2001-06-0250

In paper, the virtual prototype of the rolling – guiding – suspension system of an off-road vehicle is presented. The prototype has been made with the MBS software ADAMS, and takes into consideration the geometric restrictions as well as the nonlinear characteristics of the elastic and damping elements. The experiment designed is one frequently carried by the automotive manufacturers, namely dynamic with shock test, which consists in the sudden release of the car to fall on the ground from a given height. On the virtual prototype, a lot of measurements have been made having in view to optimize the dynamic behavior of the suspension system and to enhance the vehicle safety.