Search Results

The field of motor vehicle rollover research and testing has been one of multiple and varied approaches, dating back to at least the 1930's. The approach has been as simple as tipping a vehicle over at the top of a steep hill ( Wilson et al., 1972 ), to as complex as releasing a vehicle from an elevated roll spit mounted to the rear of a moving tractor and trailer ( Cooper et al., 2001 and Carter et al., 2002 ). Presenter Peter Luepke, P Luepke Consulting

There are several variables to consider when specifying a hydraulic hybrid system in a commercial vehicle. Parameters which can be controlled include various component sizes and some hybrid system calibration parameters. Presenter Paul Schwark, Bosch Rexroth AG

Experimental methods and computational applications related to tire and wheel systems as well as vehicle dynamics and simulation topics are included in the 40 papers in this technical paper collection.

The 9 papers in this technical paper collection focus on occupant protection in accident reconstruction. Topics include: particle image velocimetry; heavy truck engine retarders; repeatability and reliability of drag sled testing; pedestrian impact on low friction surface; photogrammetric measurement error associated with lens distortion; passenger vehicle response to low-speed impacts involving a tractor semitrailer; and more.

The papers in this collection focus on the latest research related to methods and techniques for reconstructing vehicular crashes involving wheeled and tracked vehicles, pedestrians, and roadside features. Emphasis is placed on experimental data and theoretical methods that will enable reconstructionists to identify, interpret and analyze physical evidence from vehicular crashes.

Abstract Truck platooning comprises a number of trucks equipped with automated lateral and longitudinal vehicle control technology, which allows them to move in tight formation with short following distances. This study is an initial step toward developing an understanding of the occupant injury risks associated with the multiple sequential impacts between truck platoons and roadside safety barriers, regardless of whether the crash is associated with a malfunction of automated control or human operation. Full-scale crash impacts of a tractor-trailer platoon into a concrete bridge guardrail were simulated for a specific Test Level condition according to the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) standards. The model of the bridge barrier was developed based on its drawings, and material properties were assigned according to literature data.

Abstract Exhaust manifolds are one of the most important components on the engine assembly, which is mounted on engine cylinder head. Exhaust manifolds connect exhaust ports of cylinders to the turbine for turbocharged diesel engine therefore they play a significant role in the performance of engine system. Exhaust manifolds are subjected to very harsh thermal loads; extreme heating under very high temperatures and cooling under low temperatures. Therefore designing a durable exhaust manifold is a challenging task. Computer aided engineering (CAE) is an effective tool to drive an exhaust manifold design at the early stage of engine development. Thus advanced CAE methodologies are required for the accurate prediction of temperature distribution. However, at the end of the development process, for the design verification purposes, various tests have to be carried out in engine dynamometer cells under severe operating conditions.

Abstract The development, analysis, and optimization of battery electric class-7 heavy-duty trucks equipped with multi-speed transmissions are discussed in this paper. The designs of five new traction motors-fractional-slot, concentrated winding machines-are proposed for use in heavy-duty electric trucks. The procedure for gear-ratio range selection is outlined and ranges of gear ratios for three-to six-speed transmission powertrains are calculated for each of the proposed electric traction motors. The simulation and gear-ratio optimization tasks for class-7 battery electric trucks are formulated. The energy consumption of the e-truck with the twenty possible powertrain combinations is minimized over the four driving cycles and the most efficient powertrain layouts that meet the performance criteria are recommended.

Abstract In this article, a unique design for Hydro-Pneumatic Energy Harvesting Suspension HPEHS system is introduced. The design includes a hydraulic rectifier to maintain one-way flow direction in order to obtain maximum power generation from the vertical oscillation of the suspension system and achieve handling and comfort car drive. A mathematical model is presented to study the system dynamics and non-linear effects for HPEHS system. A simulation model is created by using Advanced Modeling Environment Simulations software (AMEsim) to analyze system performance. Furthermore, a co-simulation platform model is developed using Matlab-Simulink and AMEsim to optimize the PID controller parameters of the external variable load resistor applied on the generator by using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO).

Abstract A new concept of instantaneous wheel turn center (IWTC) is proposed to evaluate and improve multi-axle vehicle steering coordination performance. The concept of IWTC and its calculation method are studied. The index named dispersion of IWTC is developed to evaluate the vehicle steering coordination performance quantitatively. The simulation tests based on a three-axle off-road vehicle model are conducted under different vehicle velocities and lateral accelerations. The simulation results show that the turn centers of different wheels are disperse, and the dispersion becomes larger with the increase of vehicle velocities and lateral acceleration. Since suspension has important influences on vehicle steering performance, the genetic algorithm is used to optimize the suspension hard points and bushing stiffness, aiming at minimizing the dispersion of wheel turn centers (DWTC) to improve the vehicle steering coordination performance.

Abstract This research developed methods for a virtual operator model (VOM) to learn the optimal control inputs for operation of a virtual excavator. Virtual design, used to model, simulate, and test new features, has often been limited by the fidelity of the virtual model of human operators. Human operator learns, over time, the capability, limits, and control characteristics of new vehicles to develop the best strategy to maximize the efficiency of operation. However, VOMs are developed with fixed strategies and for specific vehicle models (VMs) and require time-consuming re-tuning of the VOM for each new vehicle design. Thus, there typically is no capability to optimize strategies, taking account of variation in vehicle capabilities and limitations. A VOM learning capability was developed to optimize control inputs for the swing-to-pile task of a trenching operation. Different control strategies consisted of varied combinations of speed control, position control, and coast.

Abstract In order to improve robustness of vehicle dynamic performance, a steering mechanism model is proposed with alignment parameters of front wheel based on preference function method. In the steering mechanism model controllable variables include the trapezoid connection length, the base angle of steering trapezoid, the kingpin inclination angle, caster, camber and uncontrollable variables include load and initial braking velocity. Optimization objective is some vehicle dynamic performance. In the preference function method the individual performance preference and preference aggregation in designing variable space and performance variable space are analyzed. The individual performance preference includes the controllable variable preference, noise factor preference and optimization objective preference. The aggregation function is developed by aggregating all the individual performance preferences.

Abstract This article investigates the fuel savings potential of a series hybrid military truck using a simultaneous battery pack design and powertrain supervisory control optimization algorithm. The design optimization refers to the sizing of the lithium-ion battery pack in the hybrid configuration. The powertrain supervisory control optimization determines the most efficient way to split the power demand between the battery pack and the engine. Despite the available design and control optimization techniques, a generalized mathematical formulation and solution approach for combined design and control optimization is still missing in the literature. This article intends to fill that void by proposing a unified framework to simultaneously optimize both the battery pack size and power split control sequence. This is achieved through a combination of genetic algorithm (GA) and Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP) where the design parameters are integrated into the Hamiltonian function.

Facing a competitive and globalized market and with increasingly demanding customers, companies must constantly seek the development of practices in the development of new products. One of the current practices is the adoption of modularity. In that sense, the objective of this paper is to conduct an analysis of this practice in a Brazilian company, which manufactures agricultural machinery. The applicability of modular design in current products is focused. Therefore, a case study approach has been chosen. First, a review of the scientific literature was conducted, followed by field research, for collecting data based on interviews with product engineers and technical documentation. The case study shows the applicability of the modular design concept in a combine header, by increasing the number of repeated components. The modular header approach facilitates the implementation of engineering changes and allows greater standardization of components.

To get a sequence retainable rainflow cycle counting algorithm for fatigue analysis, an alternate equivalent explanation to rainflow cycle counting is introduced, based on which an iterative rainflow counting algorithm is proposed. The algorithm decomposes any given load-time history with more than one crest into three sub-histories by two troughs; each sub-history with more than one crest is iteratively decomposed into three shorter sub-histories, till each sub-history obtained contains only one single or no crest. Every sub-history that contains a single crest corresponds to a local closed (full) cycle. The mean load and alternate load component of the local cycle are calculated in parallel with the iterative procedure.

Road vibrations cause fatigue failures in vehicle components and systems. Therefore, reliable and accurate damage and life assessment is crucial to the durability and reliability performances of vehicles, especially at early design stages. However, durability and reliability assessment is difficult not only because of the unknown underlying damage mechanisms, such as crack initiation and crack growth, but also due to the large uncertainties introduced by many factors during operation. How to effectively and accurately assess the damage status and quantitatively measure the uncertainties in a damage evolution process is an important but still unsolved task in engineering probabilistic analysis. In this paper, a new procedure is developed to assess the durability and reliability performance, and characterize the uncertainties of damage evolution of components under constant amplitude loadings.

This paper describes the development and testing of a Dynamic Vibration Absorber to reduce frame beaming vibration in a highway tractor. Frame beaming occurs when the first vertical bending mode of the frame is excited by road or wheel-end inputs. It is primarily a problem for driver comfort. Up until now, few options were available to resolve this problem. The paper will review the phenomenon, design factors affecting a vehicle's sensitivity to frame beaming, and the principles of Dynamic Vibration Absorbers (AKA Tuned Mass Dampers). Finally, the paper will describe simulation and testing that led to the development of an effective vibration absorber as a field fix.

The ride comfort of the commercial vehicle is mainly affected by several vibration isolation systems such as the primary suspension system, engine mounting system and the cab mounting system. A rigid-flexible coupling model for the truck was built and analyzed in multi-body environment (ADAMS). The method applying the excitation on the wheels center and the engine mountings in time domain was presented. The variables' effects on the ride performance were studied by design of experiment (DOE). The optimal design was obtained by the co-simulation of the ADAMS/View, iSIGHT and Matlab. It was found that the vertical root mean square (RMS) acceleration and frequency-weighted RMS acceleration on the seat track were reduced about 17% and 11% respectively at different speeds relative to baseline according to ISO 2631-1.

Compared to the vehicles with conventional steering, the articulated frame steer vehicles (ASV) are known to exhibit lower directional and roll stability limits. Furthermore, the tire interactions with relatively rough terrains could adversely affect the directional and roll stability limits of an ASV due to terrain-induced variations in the vertical and lateral tire forces. It may thus be desirable to assess the dynamic safety of ASVs in terms of their directional control and stability limits while operating on different terrains. The effects of terrain roughness on the directional stability limits of an ASV are investigated through simulations of a comprehensive three-dimensional model of the vehicle with and without a rear axle suspension. The model incorporates a torsio-elastic rear axle suspension, a kineto-dynamic model of the frame steering struts and equivalent random profiles of different undeformable terrains together with coherence between the two tracks profiles.

An Active Independent Front Steering (AIFS) offers attractive potential for realizing improved directional control performance compared to the conventional Active Front Steering (AFS) system, particularly under more severe steering maneuvers. The AIFS control strategy adjusts the wheel steer angles in an independent manner so as to utilize the maximum available adhesion at each wheel/road contact and thereby compensate for cornering loss caused by the lateral load transfer. In this study, the performance potentials of AIFS are explored for vehicles experiencing greater lateral load transfers during steering maneuvers such as partly-filled tank trucks. A nonlinear yaw plane model of a two-axle truck with limited roll degree-of-freedom is developed to study the performance potentials of AIFS under different cargo fill conditions.