Determining the Wind Forces and Moments Acting on Vehicles by Means of Pressure Sensors

A new technique for the measurement of wind forces and moments acting on vehicles has been developed on the basis of comprehensive measurements in the wind tunnel. The results achieved with tests on the cross-wind machine were highly positive. The technique is based on pressure measurements and therefore has certain advantages over the measurement technique using an anemometer.

This measurement technique opens up new possibilities for analyzing and optimizing a vehicle's crosswind behavior and the driver-vehicle-crosswind closed-loop system. It can also be used for compensation of crosswind disturbances by active steering.