The verification and demonstration of a unique course-profile-measurement methodology

This paper presents an experimental methodology for regeneration of course profiles, with tire acceleration and speed, suspension force and pitch data collected from an instrumented trailer wheel running over the course profile to be identified. The collected data is used to derive the course profile as a function of time, while the speed data is used to map the ground elevation data from a time domain into a spatial domain. To verify the course re-generating rationale, the required test data was simulated with the data extracted from a trailer model running over selected course profiles. The regenerated course profiles are then compared against those used as the inputs to the trailer model, demonstrating the feasibility of using the methodology to regenerate course profiles which statistically align with real-world course profiles. The methodology may be used to develop the inputs statistically equivalent to realistic course profiles as needed in dynamic simulation of terrain-vehicle systems.