Pulse Testing Techniques Applied to Vehicle Handling Dynamics

This paper presents results from recent studies on using pulse inputs to generate simulated and experimental frequency responses. The purpose of the paper is to disseminate information on the application of pulse testing methods, and to compare the results with frequency response results obtained using other methods. Frequency responses were generated from a vehicle handling dynamics simulation, from full-scale vehicle handling tests, and from dynamic tire tests. The requirements on the input pulses used to drive the systems under study are discussed, including pulse size, shape, and duration, and the corresponding pulse frequency content and power spectral densities. Pulse testing is generally faster and cheaper than the alternative test methods, and for the case of full-scale vehicle testing, requires much less test area. In general, for the systems studied during this work, pulse input techniques were found to provide similar results to the other methods used for generating frequency responses.