Subsystem synthesis method with approximate function approach for a real-time multibody vehicle model

Abstract

This paper presents the subsystem synthesis method with approximate function approach for a real-time multibody vehicle dynamics model. In the subsystem synthesis method, equations of motion for the car body of a vehicle and the equations of motion for suspension subsystems are formed separately for efficient computation. Joint coordinates are used to construct suspension subsystem equations of motion. Since these joint coordinates must satisfy the loop closure constraint equations that represent suspension linkage kinematics, they are not all independent. Using the generalized coordinate partitioning method, suspension subsystem equations of motion can be represented only in terms of independent generalized coordinates. To represent dependent coordinates as a function of independent coordinates in the generalized coordinate partitioning method, expensive numerical approaches, such as the Newton–Raphson method, must be applied. For real-time computation of the multibody vehicle model, an approximate function approach is proposed to express the dependent coordinates as polynomial functions of the independent coordinates within the framework of the subsystem synthesis method. Different orders of candidate polynomial functions are investigated for solution accuracy. Efficiency of the proposed method has been studied theoretically by counting arithmetic operators. By measuring actual CPU times of the simulations with a quarter car and a full car model, efficiency of the proposed method has also been investigated.