Design, Simulate Wheel Suspensions on Virtual Test Bench

dSPACE Automotive Simulation Models (ASM) now support the simulation of virtual test benches for vehicle dynamics analysis. The new ASM Kinematics and Compliance (ASM KnC) provides functions for designing and simulating wheel suspensions on a virtual test bench, thereby opening up a new application field, the company says. Users can now run virtual tests for numerous vehicle variants and driving maneuvers to optimize vehicle suspensions and make them available for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) applications.

The wheel suspensions are defined in a graphical user interface and exported as look-up tables for vehicle simulation models. The tool provides preset configurations for common suspension types: McPherson, double wishbone, and 3-link, 4-link or multiple-link suspensions. These can also be combined with subframes.

ASM KnC is fully automatable, and the company says simulation results can be optimized to match real measurement data (e.g., the changes in camber and toe-in during jounce and rebound). The automation interface can also be used to forecast the individual properties of materials to meet higher target criteria for vehicle dynamics.

For more information, visit dSPACE.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.