Correlation of Vehicle drop test in front & rear wheel landing condition using multibody dynamics simulations

Two wheelers motorcycles are used for many purposes e.g. commuting from place to another, long highway rides, racing and off-roading. Motorcycles which are used in off-road conditions require large suspension strokes to absorb large oscillations due to road conditions. These motorcycles undergo jumps of different heights and different vehicle orientations. In some of the dynamic situations front wheel may land first than the rear and in some of the situations rear may land first as compared to front. To make sure that the vehicle is durable enough to withstand loads in such operating conditions, vehicle drop test was developed at component test lab where vehicle is dropped from predefined heights in both front & rear wheel landing conditions. Same load case is simulated in multibody dynamics to capture loads at important connections of the frame. This paper presents the correlation exercise carried out to validate MBD model and simulation process with test data captured during lab test. Accelerations at various locations on the vehicle were captured in physical test and the same have been correlated using MBD model. The correlated model can further be used to extract loads at required joints for FEA analysis of vehicle main frame.