Simulation Analysis of the Effect of Tire and Suspension Non-Linearities on the Handling Response of Rigid and Articulated Vehicles

This paper presents a simulation based analysis of the effect of various non-linearities on vehicle handling of rigid and articulated vehicles. First a description of a non-linear vehicle model is presented and non-linearities, including tires, suspension elasto-kinematics, springing and damping are discussed. Later sections present the simulations results for the effects of each non-linearity. Simulation analyses are carried out for the case of step steering maneuvers, which permit to deduce the overall vehicle model response variation in steady-state and dynamic conditions.