Michael Unterreiner

Application of Simulators and Simulation Tools for the Functional Design of Mechatronic Systems

This paper considers the application of simulators or demonstrators in the development of mechatronic products. It is shown at what step of the mechatronic design process a simulator or demonstrator can be used to significantly improve a products quality and thus identify possible errors and provide potential workarounds. Cost reduction is achieved by the use of simulators or demonstrators in the early design stage and less real product tests have to be carried out which also could be hazardous for the test person.

Actuation Strategy for a new Driving Simulator Setup

This paper focuses on the actuation strategy of an active driving simulator and its validation using experimental driving data. The simulator combines the simulation of both the road characteristics and the vehicle dynamics into a single architecture. The goal is to combine actual road excitation signals with imposed vehicle movements to create a realistic driving experience.

An effective method to identify thermodynamic tire characteristics through driving maneuvers

The optimal tire temperature is a determining factor to get quick lap times in motorsport, because the tire rubber compound characteristics decay very rapidly outside a given temperature range. The characteristics of road car tires also vary with temperature, although such a variation is smaller than the one of racing cars; however, the performance of sport cars is still massively influenced by tire temperatures. The heat coming out of high performance driving is transferred in different ways throughout the tires, resulting in very big temperature variations within the tire parts. The tire surface in contact with the road can get warm very quickly because of friction energy in the contact patch, and can also cool down rapidly because of air convection and heat conduction into the track. On the other hand, the inner liner has much smaller and slower variations in temperature, partly because of the relatively low thermal conductivity of the rubber compound. These two spots where the tire temperature is usually detected have an influence on tire characteristics which are relevant for vehicle dynamics: the surface temperature correlates with grip, the inner liner temperature with cornering stiffness [1]. The measurement of these quantities requires additional (and reliable) sensors, setting a tough task.

Development of a chassis model including elastic behavior for real-time applications

For the prediction of the dynamics of vehicles, various mathematical models have been used successfully for many years. The complexity of these models ranges from very sophisticated to rather straightforward approaches. The right to exist for simple models often results from the need for short computation times due to many iterations associated with optimization tasks or even from real-time applications. If the models are to be used as part of driving dynamics control systems these computations have to be performed on ECUs affordable for series applications.

Modelling of a Twin-Track Vehicle Model with Modular Wheel Suspensions

A mathematical modelling approach of a multi-body wheel suspension is presented. The wheel suspension is modelled in a modular manner so that different types of vehicles can be simulated. The inter-changeability of the wheel suspensions is achieved by calculating the translational and rotational Jacobian matrix and its partial time derivatives for the wheel carrier and the wheel. The results of modelling the kinematics of a McPherson wheel suspension are shown.