Modelling vehicle kinematic behaviour

[Jonny6001]

Hi, I have been reading a book regarding modelling vehicle behaviour using multi-body systems.

It discusses the use of points, vectors, local and global co-ordinate systems as well as assigning degrees of freedom to various parts. I am pretty confident with the whole concept but I am unsure where to start on constructing a model.

I want to be able to define x,y and z co-ordinates of various points such as in board and out board suspension leg pick-up points at a design ride-height, then move the vehicle through it's travell and see how things like camber changes.
Then progress the model to maybe a full dynamic vehicle model looking at the rate of change of various components and bringing forces into the model.

I have quite a lot of experience with software such as MSc Adams but I want to set-up a complete model myself from scratch, maybe in MATLAB or perhaps Excel is still capable.

I hope someone has some experience of this and is willing to give me some help, no matter how great or small.

Thanks a lot for your time.

 

[pat_connell]

The best way to start is to break down the problem into smaller parts. Start by developing a model of the individual components of the vehicle, such as the suspension, wheels, tires, and other components. This will allow you to determine the forces that act on each component and determine how they interact with each other. Once you have a solid understanding of these components, then you can begin to build a larger system by connecting them together. From there, you can begin to look at the dynamics of the system by looking at how the forces and velocities change over time. To do this in MATLAB, you would need to use the Simulink toolbox along with some basic programming. You can also use Excel to develop a model, but it will be more limited in scope than what you can do with MATLAB. It may be easier to start with Excel, and then move to MATLAB once you have a better understanding of the problem. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that developing a full dynamic vehicle model requires a lot of time and effort. You may want to consider using a pre-existing vehicle model (such as those offered by MSc Adams) before attempting to create your own from scratch.