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A hybrid approach to predict road-induced loads in vehicle structures is presented. The technique involves full vehicle dynamic simulation using measured wheel forces, absolute wheel vertical displacements, and steering angle as input. The wheel vertical displacement is derived from the measured wheel acceleration. This approach avoids the use of tire-road interface modeling. It also improves the conventional loads measuring process with minimum instrumentation and data acquisition. Existing load data from a test vehicle is used to validate this approach. Computed component loads show good agreement with measurements.

Since road roughness is an important source of vehicle vibration, a system model for NVH analysis requires a tire model which accurately predicts spindle response to road input. Most tire models currently used in the auto industry do not meet this requirement, because they are based on static stiffness of the tire and do not produce realistic response to input at the patch. This paper investigates a new modal tire model with patch input capability as a component within a vehicle system model. Comparisons are also presented between the behavior of the new tire model and a conventional spring model. To validate the performance of the tire model for NVH analysis, simulated vehicle responses to bump input are compared to chassis roll test results. Good correlation between the model prediction and the chassis roll measurements is observed.