Correlation Issues for Testing and Simulation of Kinematics and Compliance in Automotive Suspensions

The effort to predict the vehicle handling characteristics upfront in the design process is assuming an increasingly important role. With vehicle dynamics refinement taking center stage, it has become increasingly accepted that use of well developed, Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) models present the best approach for upfront prediction of vehicle behavior. With increased reliance on simulated data, increased accuracy in the data produced is essential. The ability to simply predict trends is no longer acceptable. Meaningful results can be derived, and projections made, from the CAE model, only if the CAE results are correlated against real-world tests.

The paper discusses the correlation techniques with regards to lack or gaps in correlation between CAE models and their real equivalents. This paper also outlines the methodology for correlating the kinematics and compliance for a road vehicle created in ADAMS/Chassis against test data.