Development of a Virtual Rough Road Simulator for Motorcycle Frame Strength

The purpose of this study was to reproduce a two-wheel vehicle driving on a rough road simulator with an analysis model.

Two-wheel vehicles are subjected to endurance tests on a rough road simulator for quantitatively evaluating their endurance. However, such tests require significant time and cost, so we attempted to develop a virtual rough road simulator, in which the frame strength of a two-wheel vehicle driving on the simulator can be reproduced by numerical analysis. The virtual rough road simulator consisted of mechanism analysis using a full-vehicle model of a two-wheel vehicle and structural analysis using a finite element model. The behavior of a two-wheel vehicle driving on the simulator is reproduced by mechanism analysis, and the frame strength of the vehicle is evaluated by structural analysis.

This simulator allows designers to numerically evaluate the behavior and the frame strength of a two-wheel vehicle driving on a rough road simulator.