Co-Simulation: Developing A Virtual Vehicle Modeling Capability

Many general-purpose and specialized simulation tools have been developed to assist engineers analyzing vehicle systems such as the engine, transmission, or control systems. Analyses have typically been carried out using these tools individually to address specific design and development issues. This divided approach limits the treatment of integrated system dynamics that may be important in refining dynamic system or control designs. Increasingly, these modeling tools have become more flexible, allowing analyses to be carried out simultaneously and in a coupled way using co-simulation. This paper describes a typical development process and the ways in which co-simulation may be valuable in analyzing systems. A co-simulation example applied to a transmission development is given in which a complete vehicle is modeled using three simulation tools running simultaneously. This enables the strengths of the individual, specialized simulation tools to be exploited, without compromising model fidelity, while the system interactions are fully represented.