InTenso+ System: Measured Centre of Gravity Locations and Inertia Tensors of Road Vehicles

Abstract

The InTenso+ system has been developed at Politecnico di Milano (Technical University of Milan) for the measurement of the centre of gravity location and of the inertia tensor of vehicles and their components (such as gearboxes and engines). The test rig is basically a multi-bar pendulum carrying the body under investigation and oscillating from well-known initial conditions. By means of a proper mathematical procedure, the mass properties of the body are accurately measured within a very short time. The InTenso+ System has been employed for a number of measurements of the mass properties of road vehicles. In this paper, the measured data are collected and analyzed. Formulas for the estimation of the mass properties (mass, centre of gravity location and inertia tensor) from easily accessible vehicle data are proposed and tested against the measured values. It is confirmed that the mass properties coming from the considered estimations are useless if accurate simulations of the dynamic behavior of a vehicle have to be performed.