Development of Interactive Dynamic Simulation Method for Evaluating Truck Ride

The objective of this study is to develop a comprehensive truck simulation tool that executes fast, has a modular program construction to allow variation of vehicle characteristics, and is able to realistically predict vehicle motion and tire-road surfact interation forces at a personal computer environment. A general purpose truck simulation program is developed based on an efficient multibody formulation. A library of truck subsystem models is created, allowing a modular building block approach. An interface between the complex multibody data and conventional truck modeling descriptions is developed to promote ease of use. The truck simulation program is tested to simplified and full truck models for program validation and performance evaluation.