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An increase in data measurement and recording within vehicles has allowed Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) to monitor a vehicle’s dynamic behavior in far more detail. This increased monitoring helps to improve vehicle response in scenarios such as braking whilst cornering and braking on uneven surfaces. The Durability and Robustness (D&R) CAE department within Jaguar Land Rover discovered that the lack of a complex ABS system in virtual vehicle models was contributing to poor lateral and longitudinal loads correlation throughout the suspension and mounting systems. D&R CAE started a project to incorporate Continental’s ABS system, provided by ‘©Continental AG’ for physical JLR vehicles, into SIMPACK virtual vehicles by means of a co-simulation (2017 n.d.). The work involved collaboration between 3 departments in Jaguar Land Rover and ultimately led to implementation of the ABS into the JLR standard automotive virtual database.

In order to specify a brake system that will have robust performance over the entire range of expected vehicle drive cycles it is vital that it has sufficient thermal inertia and dissipation to ensure that component temperatures are kept within acceptable limits. This paper presents a high fidelity CAE (computer aided engineering) technique for predicting the temperature of the front brake and the surrounding suspension components whilst installed on vehicle. To define the boundary conditions the process utilizes a coupled unsteady CFD (computational fluid dynamics) and thermal solver to accurately predict the convective heat transfer coefficients across a range of vehicle speeds. A 1-D model is used to predict the brake energy inputs as well as the vehicle speed-time curves during the drive cycle based on key vehicle parameters including wide-open-throttle performance, drive train losses, rolling resistance, aerodynamic drag etc.

A novel semi-analytical solution has been developed for the calculation of the static and dynamic response of an off road tire interacting with a deformable terrain, which utilizes soil parameters independent of the size of the contact patch (size-independent). The models involved in the solution presented, can be categorized in rigid and/or pneumatic tires, with or without tread pattern. After a concise literature review of related methods, a detailed presentation of the semi-analytical solution is presented, along with assumptions and limitations. A flowchart is provided, showing the main steps of the numerical implementation, and various test cases have been examined, characterized in terms of vertical load, tire dimensions, soil properties, deformability of the tire, and tread pattern. It has been found that the proposed model can qualitatively capture the response of a rolling wheel on deformable terrain.

Brake disc materials are being utilised that have low noise/dust properties, but are sensitive to contamination by surface water. This drives large dust shields, making brake cooling increasingly difficult. However, brake cooling must be delivered without compromising aerodynamic drag and hence CO2 emissions targets. Given that front brake discs sit in a region of geometric, packaging and flow complexity optimization of their performance requires the analysis of thermal, aerodynamic and multi-phase flows. Some of the difficulties inherent in this task would be alleviated if the complete analysis could be performed in the same CAE environment: utilizing common models and the same solver technology. Hence the project described in this paper has sought to develop a CFD method that predicts the amount of contamination (water) that reaches the front brake discs, using a standard commercial code already exploited for both brake disc thermal and aerodynamics analysis.

Car manufacturers put large efforts into reducing wind noise to improve the comfort level of their cars. Each component of the vehicle is designed to meet its individual noise target to ensure the wind noise passenger comfort level inside the vehicle is met. Sunroof designs are tested to meet low-frequency buffeting (also known as boom) targets and broadband noise targets for the fully open sunroof with deflector and for the sunroof in vent position. Experimentally testing designs and making changes to meet these design targets typically involves high cost prototypes, expensive wind tunnel sessions, and potentially late design changes. To reduce the associated costs as well as development times, there is strong motivation for the use of a reliable numerical prediction capability early in the vehicle design process.

The advent of 3D displays offers Human-Machine Interface (HMI) designers and engineers new opportunities to shape the user's experience of information within the vehicle. However, the application of 3D displays to the in-vehicle environment introduces a number of new parameters that must be carefully considered in order to optimise the user experience. In addition, there is potential for 3D displays to increase driver inattention, either through diverting the driver's attention away from the road or by increasing the time taken to assimilate information. Manufacturers must therefore take great care in establishing the ‘do’s and ‘don’t's of 3D interface design for the automotive context, providing a sound basis upon which HMI designers can innovate. This paper describes the approach and findings of a three-part investigation into the use of 3D displays in the instrument cluster of a road car, the overall aim of which was to define the boundaries of the 3D HMI design space.

Automotive aerodynamics measurements and simulations now routinely use a moving ground and rotating wheels (MVG&RW), which is more representative of on-road conditions than the fixed ground-fixed wheel (FG&FW) alternative. This can be understood as a combination of three elements: (a) moving ground (MVG), (b) rotating front wheels (RWF) and (c) rotating rear wheels (RWR). The interaction of these elements with the flow field has been explored to date by mainly experimental means. This paper presents a mainly computational (CFD) investigation of the effect of RWF and RWR, in combination with MVG, on the flow field around a saloon vehicle. The influence of MVG&RW is presented both in terms of a combined change from a FG&FW baseline and the incremental effects seen by the addition of each element separately. For this vehicle, noticeable decrease in both drag and rear lift is shown when adding MVG&RW, whereas front lift shows little change.

Complexity of electronics and embedded software systems in automobiles has been increasing over the years. This necessitates the need for an effective and exhaustive development and validation process in order to deliver fault free vehicles at reduced time to market. Model-based Product Engineering (MBPE) is a new process for development and validation of embedded control software. The process is generic and defines the engineering activities to plan and assess the progress and quality of the software developed for automotive applications. The MBPE process is comprised of six levels (one design level and five verification and validation levels) ranging from the vehicle requirements phase to the start of production. The process describes the work products to be delivered during the course of product development and also aligns the delivery plan to overall vehicle development milestones.

Disc brake noise is recognized as a major problem of the automotive industry. Various experimental and numerical techniques have been developed to model the noisy brake and investigate possible solutions. Developing a virtual model of the disc brake which can accurately reproduce the behavior of the brake unit under different conditions is a considerable step forward towards reaching this goal. Among various aspects of the analytical model of a disc brake, application of the correct value of damping based on the material properties and functional frequency range of each component is a significant factor in ensuring correct prediction of the brake system behavior. Complex Eigenvalue Analysis is well established as a tool for predicting brake instabilities which can potentially lead to brake noise. However, it is known to over-predict instabilities i.e. predict instabilities which do not occur in the real brake system.

Testing real-time vehicular systems challenges the tester to design test cases for concurrent and sequential input events, emulating unexpected user and usage profiles. The vehicle response should be robust to unexpected user actions. Sequence Covering Arrays (SCA) offer an approach which can emulate such unexpected user actions by generating an optimized set of test vectors which cover all possible t-way sequences of events. The objective of this research was to find an efficient nonfunctional sequence testing (NFST) strategy for testing the robustness of real-time automotive embedded systems measured by their ability to recover (prove-out test) after applying sequences of user and usage patterns generated by combinatorial test algorithms, considered as “noisy” inputs. The method was validated with a case study of an automotive embedded system tested at Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) level. The random sequences were able to alter the system functionality observed at the prove-out test.

Many electric (EV) and hybrid-electric (HEV) vehicles are designed to operate using only electric propulsion at low road speeds. This has resulted in significantly reduced vehicle noise levels in urban situations. Although this may be viewed by many as a benefit, a risk to safety exists for those who rely on the engine noise to help detect the presence, location and behaviour of a vehicle in their vicinity. In recognition of this, legislation is being introduced globally which will require automotive manufacturers to implement external warning sound systems. A key challenge for premium vehicle manufacturers is the development of a suitable warning sound signature which also conveys the appropriate brand aspirations for the product. A further major difficulty exists when trying to robustly evaluate potential exterior sounds by running large-scale trials in the real world.

With the growing complexity of, and reliance on, safety-related electrical/electronic (E/E) systems in the automotive sector, the development of an explicit safety case is highly recommended to provide assurance to the different stakeholders interested in automotive functional safety. The production of a safety case is explicitly mandated by the draft automotive functional safety standard ISO26262. A safety case should consider all organisational and technical factors that may contribute to safety. For example, it should provide assurance for the safe behaviours of a particular system as well as assurance for the process by which this system is developed, operated and maintained. In this paper, we address one component of the overall safety case, namely the assurance of the functional safety concept. In particular, we examine how model-driven development and assessment can provide a basis for the systematic generation of functional safety requirements.