Title: Vehicle ride evaluation based on a time-domain variable speed driving pattern

Authors: Morteza Montazeri-Gh, S. Yaser Jazayeri-M, Mahdi Soleymani

Addresses: Systems Simulation and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Iran. ' Systems Simulation and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Iran. ' Systems Simulation and Control Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16844, Iran

Abstract: Ride comfort simulation is conventionally based on a frequency-domain analysis in which vehicle speed is assumed constant. However, in real traffic condition, especially in the city traffic condition, vehicle speed varies frequently. These speed variations will influence frequency content of the road disturbance and may affect vehicle ride comfort. This paper describes a methodological approach for the vehicle ride evaluation based on a time-domain simulation taking the variable speed driving pattern into consideration. In this approach, the concept of the driving cycle is combined with the road surface irregularities in order to evaluate the vehicle ride comfort. The approach is applied to some standard driving patterns and the effect of the driving pattern on the ride index is studied. The results show the effectiveness of the approach for the evaluation of the vehicle ride comfort taking the variable speed driving pattern into account. In addition, analysis of the results reveals that the ride index value depends strongly on traffic condition characterised by the average speed and idle time.

Keywords: vehicle ride evaluation; variable speed; driving cycle; time domain; traffic conditions; ride comfort; simulation; vehicle design; road roughness; driving patterns; average speed; idle time.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2008.020881

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2008 Vol.47 No.1/2/3/4, pp.81 - 101

Published online: 22 Oct 2008 *

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