Chapter 4 - Vehicle Motion by Disturbances

Abstract

This chapter focuses on vehicle motion characteristics by examining the motion of the vehicle when subjected to lateral disturbances. It looks at the vehicle motion when the lateral force, Y, acts at the center of gravity. If the vehicle motion is in steady state, a moment must act to balance this yawing moment. This moment can only be produced by the force acting on the tire, so there must be relative motion in lateral direction, other than β; between the tire and the road surface. To study the vehicle motion due to the lateral force, Y, the vehicle response to an idealized form of lateral force should be considered. Generally, one ideal form of lateral force in this kind of situation is a step change.