Title: A framework for terrain-induced uncertainty quantification in vehicle dynamics simulation

Authors: Makarand Datar, David Gorsich, David Lamb, Dan Negrut

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. ' US Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, Warren, MI, USA. ' US Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, Warren, MI, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

Abstract: This paper outlines a methodology for determining the statistics associated with the time evolution of a non-linear multi-body dynamic system operated under input uncertainty. The focus is on the dynamics of ground vehicle systems in environments characterised by multiple sources of uncertainty: road topography, friction coefficient at the road/tyre interface and aerodynamic force loading. Drawing on parametric, maximum likelihood estimation, the methodology outlined is general and can be applied to systematically study the impact of sources of uncertainty characterised herein by random processes. The proposed framework is demonstrated through a study that characterises the uncertainty induced in the loading of the lower control arm of an SUV type vehicle by uncertainty in the road topography.

Keywords: uncertainty quantification; terrain modelling; vehicle dynamics; vehicle modelling; vehicle simulation; Gaussian process; nonlinear dynamic systems; multibody dynamic systems; ground vehicle systems; road topography; friction coefficient; road-tyre interface; aerodynamic force loading; SUV vehicles.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVSMT.2009.032018

International Journal of Vehicle Systems Modelling and Testing, 2009 Vol.4 No.4, pp.234 - 255

Received: 17 Mar 2009
Accepted: 16 Sep 2009

Published online: 04 Mar 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article