Supplementation of Measured Vehicle Road Loads to Study Vehicle Configuration Changes

Measured vehicle loads, taken during durability events, are commonly used to drive in-lab vehicle subsystem validation testing. The use of measured loads can be problematic due to (a) off-nominal characteristics of the test vehicle, (b) post-test changes to vehicle tuning - bushings, springs, and shocks for example, (c) scheduling, timing and weather requirements, (d) modification of vehicle characteristics by the inclusion of transducers and (e) the cost of executing tests. A general process for supplementing and rationalizing measured vehicle data through the use of correlated multi-body dynamic simulations is presented. Difficulties in modeling tires and other components, as well as difficulties in model correlation for abusive load events are also discussed.