Vehicle Dynamics Tests for Commercial Vehicles

28th October 2009

dSPACE Ltd

ES Admin

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To improve the safety of commercial vehicles in road traffic, UN/ECE regulation 13-H stipulates that electronic stability systems (ESP systems) must be installed in commercial vehicles from 2011 onward. For the first time, this regulation permits the use of simulation models to verify that the ESP systems function correctly. dSPACE's new simulation model ASM Truck already provides all the features required for testing and validating ESP functions for directional stabilization and rollover protection. With virtual vehicle dynamics tests, testing activities can be moved from the road to the simulation system. This significantly reduces the workload and costs involved in testing the enormous number of different vehicle variants available in the commercial vehicle industry.

ASM Truck is an open MATLAB/Simulink model that is used together with ASM Trailer to simulate a vehicle with a trailer. The models contain up to 35 degrees of freedom (DOFs) in the multibody dynamics and up to 25 DOFs in the powertrain. The entire vehicle model has up to 8 steerable axles, which can have twin tires as an option. It is easy to modify the configuration even during run time without manipulating the model. For example, during the simulation axles can be activated and deactivated, and trailers can be hitched and unhitched. Because of its open implementation in Simulink, the model can be extended in any way desired and adapted to special test tasks. Configuration, parameterization and variant management are performed in the graphical user interface ModelDesk, which is also used to define roads and maneuvers.

ASM Truck even provides a solution that anticipates the next stage in the UN/ECE regulations, which will cover lane keeping assistance and emergency braking. Developers can test these functionalities by simulation with a combination of ASM Truck and ASM Traffic, a simulation model for the traffic surrounding the test vehicle.
All three models are components in the Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) from dSPACE. They are suitable for early function testing by offline simulation with Simulink and can be executed on a dSPACE Simulator in real time to test electronic control units by hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation.