Laboratory Road Simulation for Full Vehicle Testing: A Review

Dynamic testing plays an important part in the development process of road vehicles. Of particular interest is the simulation of road conditions, i.e. the application by means of a laboratory test rig of the loading conditions experienced by a vehicle in service. This paper reviews the techniques and technology that have been developed over the last few decades for laboratory road simulation. In the early road simulators only vertical road excitations were applied to the vehicle, whereas some of the latest simulators have twenty or more loading actuators. Iterative control techniques, which are used to match the response of the vehicle in the laboratory to the responses measured on the road, are described. The state of the art in road simulation technology is presented together with the developing links to virtual testing.