Author : O. P. Joshi, T. A. Jadhav, P. R. Pawar and M. R. Saraf

Ride-comfort and durability of the vehicle are influenced by irregularities on the road surface and varying vehicle speed due to road traffic conditions. Hence it becomes important to analyze the effect of road roughness on vehicle vibration response. In this work, effect of road roughness and vehicle speed on the dynamic response of a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) is investigated through vehicle simulation. The vehicle model used is the seven degrees-of-freedom full car vertical dynamic ride model. Features of the model include suspension characteristics for each of the four tires, and vehicle body. The simulation of the seven degrees-of-freedom state space model is carried out using MATLAB. Particularly, the response of the seven degrees-of-freedom model is analyzed for ride-comfort on four different artificial road profiles simulated using Gaussian Moving Average (GMA) as per ISO 8608 and at three different vehicle speeds. It is observed that road roughness and vehicle speed have a significant impact on the ride-comfort and load history.

Keywords: Artificial road profile, Seven degrees-of-freedom vehicle model, Load, Ride-comfort, Vehicle simulation

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.4 (Aug-2015)