Analysis of Lateral Dynamics and Ride Performance of the Superbus

Vehicle handling and stability are very important at high speeds especially when the vehicle has a weight of about 6 times a normal luxury passenger car as in the case of the Superbus which travels at 250kph.

In this paper the high speed performance of the Superbus will be analyzed. First the model will be discussed. Then, a number of the several analyses that were carried out will be discussed. These include single lane change and steering impulse. The simulations were done with a complete multibody model made in ADAMS, which accounts for all the major non-linearity's of the actual vehicle, such as air springs and shock curves, suspension bump stops and Pacjeka tire model [1]. The results of these analyses show that the Superbus is a safe vehicle to drive at high speeds and still can be very comfortable.