Virtual Road Profile Modeling Using Equivalent Damage Method For VPG Simulation

In the new product development of vehicle suspension system, the spindle or component loads are very important for optimization of component design for weight and fatigue life. Accurate loads of spindle force at the early stage of vehicle development will help to reduce the number of design changes and there by shortening of the product development cost and time.

This paper introduces a reliable method to calculate spindle force. This method requires two models that are tire and road profile. However, precise modeling of tire is not easy because of nonlinear effects between tire and ground. Therefore, new method is proposed which makes the response of the spindle force with a linear tire model be the same as the test result. Virtual road profile is made by using equivalent damage method which is based on frequency response function between road and wheel. This road profile contains the ground characteristics and nonlinear effects between road and wheel. Therefore, this paper may be useful for the virtual proving ground simulation.