Off-Highway Vehicle Ride Comfort Analysis

The cab vibration and ride comfort of off-highway vehicles were analyzed using a multi-body system dynamics model that consists of cab and four isolation mounts. The vibrational Power Spectral Density (PSD) data measured on four mounting brackets was used as excitation input to the model to represent real-world situations. As specified in the SAE and ISO recommendations, a weighted rms acceleration was used as a measure of ride comfort or human perception of vibration severity of vehicles. The analytically predicted results have shown excellent agreement to the measured data.

Design optimization process or sensitivity analysis was demonstrated to investigate the effects on vehicle ride quality of isolation mount characteristics (axial and radial stiffness) and mounting configuration (mount location and orientation). It was found that, for certain field operating cases, a very significant improvement in tide performance could be achieved by properly specifying mount stiffness and mounting configuration.