Esta tese relata e discute informações obtidas em ações para tentar mostrar que o uso de conceitos sobre auditoria de qualidade e análise de correlação canônica pode contribuir para identificar itens que facilitem classificar tópicos para verificação de conformidade de especificações para construção ou controle de componentes de rodovias. O nível para qualidade de viagens pode ser analisado através da busca de uma expressão de necessidades e expectativas de motoristas e passageiros. Estudos sobre especificações de componentes de rodovias deveriam conter recomendações que contribuam para a qualidade de viagem, por entrosar conseqüências de uso de determinações técnicas com ações para atender às expectativas e necessidades dos que julgam a viagem. O uso da técnica e dos conceitos sobre auditoria, em conjunto com a análise de correlação canônica pode contribuir para classificar medidas ou contagens sobre variáveis que descrevem características físicas de rodovias do ponto de vista de melhoria de conforto e segurança a motoristas e passageiros. / This thesis reports and discusses information obtained from actions trying to show that the use of concepts on quality auditing and canonical correlation analysis can contribute to identify items to facilitate the classification of topics for verification on specifications conformity for the construction or the control of highways components. The level for ride quality can be analyzed through the search of an expression of needs and expectations of drivers and passengers. Studies about highway components specifications should contain recommendations to contribute for improving the ride quality, for gearing consequences of using technical determinations with actions to assist the expectations and needs of the ride judgers. The use of the auditing technique and concepts, together with the canonical correlation analysis can contribute to classify measures on variables that describe physical characteristics of highways on the point of view of comfort and safety improvement to drivers and passengers.

Esta tese relata e discute informações obtidas em ações para tentar mostrar que o uso de conceitos sobre auditoria de qualidade e análise de correlação canônica pode contribuir para identificar itens que facilitem classificar tópicos para verificação de conformidade de especificações para construção ou controle de componentes de rodovias. O nível para qualidade de viagens pode ser analisado através da busca de uma expressão de necessidades e expectativas de motoristas e passageiros. Estudos sobre especificações de componentes de rodovias deveriam conter recomendações que contribuam para a qualidade de viagem, por entrosar conseqüências de uso de determinações técnicas com ações para atender às expectativas e necessidades dos que julgam a viagem. O uso da técnica e dos conceitos sobre auditoria, em conjunto com a análise de correlação canônica pode contribuir para classificar medidas ou contagens sobre variáveis que descrevem características físicas de rodovias do ponto de vista de melhoria de conforto e segurança a motoristas e passageiros. / This thesis reports and discusses information obtained from actions trying to show that the use of concepts on quality auditing and canonical correlation analysis can contribute to identify items to facilitate the classification of topics for verification on specifications conformity for the construction or the control of highways components. The level for ride quality can be analyzed through the search of an expression of needs and expectations of drivers and passengers. Studies about highway components specifications should contain recommendations to contribute for improving the ride quality, for gearing consequences of using technical determinations with actions to assist the expectations and needs of the ride judgers. The use of the auditing technique and concepts, together with the canonical correlation analysis can contribute to classify measures on variables that describe physical characteristics of highways on the point of view of comfort and safety improvement to drivers and passengers.

The aim of this work is to evaluate ride quality of a typical passenger car. This requires both identifying the excitation resources, which result to undesired noise inside the vehicle, and studying human reaction t applied vibration. Driveline linear torsional vibration will be modelled by a 14-degress of freedom system while engine cylinder pressure torques are considered as an input force for the structure. The results show good agreement with the corresponding reference output responses which proves the accuracy of the numerical approach fourth order Runge-kutta. An eighteen-degree of freedom model is then used to investigate coupled motion of driveline and the tire/suspension assembly in order to attain vehicle body longitudinal acceleration subject to engine excitations. Road surface irregularities is simulated as a stationary random process and further vertical acceleration of the vehicle body will be obtained by considering the well-known quarter-car model including suspension/tire mechanisms and road input force. Finally, ISO diagrams are utilized to compare RMS vertical and lateral accelerations of the car body with the fatigue-decreased proficiency boundaries and to determine harmful frequency regions. According to the results, passive suspension system is not functional enough since its behaviour depends on frequency content of the input and it provides good isolation only when the car is subjected to a high frequency excitation. Although longitudinal RMS acceleration of the vehicle body due to engine force is not too significant, driveline torsional vibration itself has to be studied in order to avoid any dangerous damages for each component by recognizing resonance frequencies of the system. The report will come to an end by explaining different issues which are not investigated in this thesis and may be considered as future works.

The suspension system of a vehicle is conventionally designed such that the spring-damper element is configured in the vertical direction, and the longitudinal connection between the vehicle chassis and wheels is always very stiff compared to the vertical one. This mechanism can isolate vibrations and absorb shocks efficiently in the vertical direction but cannot attenuate the longitudinal impacts caused by road obstacles. In order to overcome such a limitation, a planar suspension system (PSS) is proposed. This novel vehicle suspension system has a longitudinal spring-damper strut between the vehicle chassis and wheel. The dynamic performance, including ride comfort, pitch dynamics, handling characteristics and total dynamic behaviour, of a mid-size passenger vehicle equipped with such planar suspension systems is thoroughly investigated and compared with those of a conventional vehicle. To facilitate this investigation, various number of vehicle models are developed considering the relative longitudinal motions of wheels with respect to the chassis. A 4-DOF quarter-car model is used to conduct a preliminary study of the ride quality, and a pitch plane half-car model is employed to investigate the pitch dynamics in both the frequency and time domain. A 5-DOF yaw plane single-track half-car model along with a pitch plane half-car model is proposed to carry out the handling performance study, and also an 18-DOF full-car model is used to perform total dynamics study. In addition to these mathematical models, virtual full-car models are constructed in Adams/car to validate the proposed mathematical models. For the sake of prediction of the tire-ground interaction force, a radial-spring tire model is modified by adding the tire damping to generate the road excitation forces due to road disturbances in the vertical and longitudinal directions. A dynamic 2D tire friction model based on the LuGre friction theory is modified to simulate the dynamic frictional interaction in the tire-ground contact pitch. The ride quality of a PSS vehicle is evaluated in accordance with the ISO 2631 and compared with that of a conventional vehicle. It is shown that the PSS system exhibits good potential to attenuate the impact and isolate the vibration due to road excitations in both the vertical and longitudinal directions, resulting in improved vehicles’ ride and comfort quality. The relatively soft longitudinal strut can absorb the longitudinal impact and, therefore, can protect the components. The investigation of handling performance including the steady-state handling characteristics, transient and frequency responses in various scenarios demonstrates that the PSS vehicle is directionally stable and generally has comparable handling behaviour to a similar conventional vehicle. The application of PSS in vehicles can enhance the understeer trend, i.e. the understeer becomes more understeer, neutral steer becomes slightly understeer, and oversteer becomes less oversteer. The total dynamic behaviour combining the bounce, pitch, roll and the longitudinal dynamics under various scenarios such as differential brake-in-turn and asymmetric obstacle traversing was thoroughly investigated. Simulation results illustrate that the PSS vehicle has a relatively small roll angle in a turning manoeuvre. In some cases such as passing road potholes, the PSS vehicle has a better directional stability.

When introducing autonomous functionality in personal vehicles the ability to control the quality of the ride is transferred from the driver to the vehicle control system. In this context, a reference method for quantifying ride quality may be a useful tool in the development and tuning process. This master’s thesis investigates whether general quantitative measures of ride quality can be of value in the tuning of motion controllers for autonomous vehicles. A set of tools is built for a specific case study, analysing a lateral path planning algorithm, based on a finite horizon linear quadratic tracking controller, and how its tuning affects ride quality performance. A graphical user interface is built, with functionality for frequency domainanalysis of the path planning algorithm, individually and in combination with the remaining lateral control system, as well as ride quality evaluation based on lateral acceleration data, from logged test runs and simulation results. In addition, a simulation environment for the lateral control system is modified to be used in combination with the evaluation tool. Results of the case study indicate a measurable difference in ride quality performance when comparing manual and autonomous driving with the current implementation. Attempts were made to improve ride quality by re-tuning the path planning algorithm but little or no improvement from the previous tuning was made. The work has recognized the potential of using ride quality measures in the development and tuning process for autonomous vehicles as well as devising a tuning strategy incorporating frequency analysis and ride quality evaluation through simulation for the lateral control system. To further increase ride quality performance via the path planning algorithm an altered controller structure, such as a frequency weighted linear quadratic controller is suggested.

The suspension system of a vehicle is conventionally designed such that the spring-damper element is configured in the vertical direction, and the longitudinal connection between the vehicle chassis and wheels is always very stiff compared to the vertical one. This mechanism can isolate vibrations and absorb shocks efficiently in the vertical direction but cannot attenuate the longitudinal impacts caused by road obstacles. In order to overcome such a limitation, a planar suspension system (PSS) is proposed. This novel vehicle suspension system has a longitudinal spring-damper strut between the vehicle chassis and wheel. The dynamic performance, including ride comfort, pitch dynamics, handling characteristics and total dynamic behaviour, of a mid-size passenger vehicle equipped with such planar suspension systems is thoroughly investigated and compared with those of a conventional vehicle. To facilitate this investigation, various number of vehicle models are developed considering the relative longitudinal motions of wheels with respect to the chassis. A 4-DOF quarter-car model is used to conduct a preliminary study of the ride quality, and a pitch plane half-car model is employed to investigate the pitch dynamics in both the frequency and time domain. A 5-DOF yaw plane single-track half-car model along with a pitch plane half-car model is proposed to carry out the handling performance study, and also an 18-DOF full-car model is used to perform total dynamics study. In addition to these mathematical models, virtual full-car models are constructed in Adams/car to validate the proposed mathematical models. For the sake of prediction of the tire-ground interaction force, a radial-spring tire model is modified by adding the tire damping to generate the road excitation forces due to road disturbances in the vertical and longitudinal directions. A dynamic 2D tire friction model based on the LuGre friction theory is modified to simulate the dynamic frictional interaction in the tire-ground contact pitch. The ride quality of a PSS vehicle is evaluated in accordance with the ISO 2631 and compared with that of a conventional vehicle. It is shown that the PSS system exhibits good potential to attenuate the impact and isolate the vibration due to road excitations in both the vertical and longitudinal directions, resulting in improved vehicles’ ride and comfort quality. The relatively soft longitudinal strut can absorb the longitudinal impact and, therefore, can protect the components. The investigation of handling performance including the steady-state handling characteristics, transient and frequency responses in various scenarios demonstrates that the PSS vehicle is directionally stable and generally has comparable handling behaviour to a similar conventional vehicle. The application of PSS in vehicles can enhance the understeer trend, i.e. the understeer becomes more understeer, neutral steer becomes slightly understeer, and oversteer becomes less oversteer. The total dynamic behaviour combining the bounce, pitch, roll and the longitudinal dynamics under various scenarios such as differential brake-in-turn and asymmetric obstacle traversing was thoroughly investigated. Simulation results illustrate that the PSS vehicle has a relatively small roll angle in a turning manoeuvre. In some cases such as passing road potholes, the PSS vehicle has a better directional stability.

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