O comportamento da dinâmica lateral de veículos automotivos com esterçamento nas quatro rodas é estudado com o auxílio de uma ferramenta computacional de modelagem e simulação de sistemas multicorpos. São utilizadas duas estratégias de controle do esterçamento das rodas traseiras para a avaliação de suas principais características. Uma das estratégias esterça as rodas traseiras em função do ângulo de esterçamento do volante, e a outra esterça as rodas traseiras em função do ângulo de esterçamento do volante e da velocidade longitudinal do veículo. O teste utilizado para as análises é a entrada degrau de esterçamento, onde é avaliada a resposta transitória e de regime da aceleração lateral, da velocidade de guinada e do ângulo de rolagem dos veículos. Os resultados das simulações mostram que os veículos com esterçamento nas quatro rodas têm o tempo de resposta da velocidade de guinada maior, e da aceleração lateral e do ângulo de rolagem menores que o veículo convencional. Também apresentam uma diminuição no ganho da aceleração lateral, da velocidade de guinada e do ângulo de rolagem. Além disso apresentam uma característica subesterçante mais acentuada. Essas características são mais evidentes no veículo com estratégia de controle função do esterçamento do volante. Os resultados obtidos correspondem ao comportamento dos veículos com esterçamento nas quatro rodas apresentado na literatura. / The lateral dynamic behavior of the automotive vehicles is studied with the aid of a computational tool for multibody systems modeling and simulation. Two rear wheel steering control strategies are used for evaluation of the main four wheel steering characteristics. One strategy steer the rear wheels as a function of the steering wheel angle, and the other one, steer the rear wheels as a function of the steering wheel angle and the speed. The steer step input is the test used, where the lateral acceleration, the yaw rate and the roll angle transient and stead state response are evaluated. The simulation results show that the four wheel steering vehicles have a slower yaw rate time response, and a fast lateral acceleration and roll angle time response than the conventional vehicle. Also four wheel vehicles show a reduction in lateral acceleration, yaw rate a.nd roll angle gain. Moreover they are more understeer than the conventional vehicle. These characteristics are particularly more evident on the vehicle with steer dependent system. The obtained results correspond with four wheel steering vehicles behavior founded in literature.

Este trabalho apresenta o estudo da dinâmica vertical de um veículo off-road de competição e do comportamento elastocinemático de suas suspensões primárias de duplo estágio com o auxílio da ferramenta computacional de simulação de sistemas multicorpos MSC-ADAMS. O modelo multicorpos do veículo inclui os modelos da suspensão dianteira, suspensão traseira, sistema de direção, pneus e massa suspensa. As análises elastocinemáticas das suspensões definiram geometrias que permitem longos cursos de trabalho das suspensões sem variações indesejadas de parâmetros de projeto. Com a análise modal do modelo de veículo completo foram definidos os valores de rigidez das molas das suspensões de duplo estágio que resultaram em valores de freqüência natural no primeiro estágio semelhantes aos indicados para carros de passeio e no segundo estágio, próximos dos encontrados em veículos de competição. A análise de conforto do veículo durante simulação de passagem por trecho de pista demonstrou que os elementos de força definidos na análise modal resultam em níveis de conforto raramente encontrados em veículos de competição. / This dissertation presents the study of a off-road competition vehicle ride and the double rate suspensions elastokinematic behavior using the multibody software MSC-ADAMS. The vehicle multibody model includes the rear and front suspensions, the steering system, the tires and the sprung mass. The suspensions elastokinematic analysis defined geometric configurations that allowed long jounce and rebound travel of wheel, without undesirable project parameters variations. In the modal analysis of the vehicle multibody model, the springs rates that results in natural frequencies values similar to passenger cars for the first suspension stage and, for the second stage, similar to competition vehicles, were defined. The ride analysis during the simulation of the vehicle running on a rough track showed that the force elements defined on the modal analysis resulted in a good ride quality, rarely found in competition vehicles.

La position assise peut être source d'inconfort, particulièrement en avion lors des vols longcourriers. Cet inconfort provient en partie de facteurs mécaniques liés à l'interaction entre le siège et le passager. Disposer de modèles biomécaniques pouvant simuler cette interaction et estimer ces facteurs permettrait d'optimiser le design du siège d'avion lors de sa phase de conception afin d'améliorer son ergonomie et réduire l'inconfort du passager. L'objectif de cette thèse est de développer un outil numérique permettant d'estimer les facteurs mécaniques menant à l'inconfort et la fatigue des passagers. Cet outil combine deux différents types de modèles. Un modèle éléments finis permettant de simuler la déformation des tissus sous-cutanés et un modèle corps rigides permettant d'estimer les efforts musculaires et articulaires. Une méthode de couplage des deux modèles a été développée permettant ainsi de simuler une position à partir de laquelle l'ensemble des facteurs d'inconfort sont estimés. Un modèle éléments finis a été développé après avoir fait une étude de sensibilité sur les différents paramètres de modélisation (maillage, géométrie, lois matériaux). Un modèle corps rigides développé par Anybody a été utilisé pour être couplé avec ce modèle éléments finis. Cette méthode de couplage itératif entre les deux modèles a permis de réaliser un ajustement de la posture initiale dans le siège. Afin de simuler l'ensemble de la population et sa grande diversité morphologique, un modèle surfacique paramétrique a été développé à partir de données 3d expérimentales, ce modèle surfacique permettant ainsi d'obtenir un modèle éléments finis représentant tout type d'anthropométrie. Différents processus de validation ont été effectués à l'aide de données et d'un modèle « sujetspécifique ». Les données de pression externe simulées ont été comparées à des données expérimentales. Une étude expérimentale sous IRM ouvert a permis de mesurer les déformations des différents tissus sous-cutanés afin de les comparer aux données simulées. Un outil numérique est donc aujourd'hui disponible pour simuler l'impact du siège sur les passagers, cependant de futures études devraient se concentrer d'une part sur les modèles en étudiant la variation morphologique interne inter individus, le positionnement dans le siège ainsi que l'influence du temps sur les tissus mous et d'autres part sur la définition de critères d'inconfort et de fatigue (inconfort considéré sur des temps longs représentatifs d'un vol long-courrier) / The sitting position could be a source of discomfort, in particular in a long haul flight. This discomfort comes partially from mechanical factors linked to the interaction between the passenger and the seat. Having biomechanical models which can simulate this interaction and estimate these factors would allow optimizing the seat design in its conception phase to improve it ergonomic quality and reduce the passenger discomfort. The objective of this thesis is to develop a digital tool allowing estimating the mechanical factors leading to discomfort and fatigue of the passenger. This tool assemble two kinds of models, a finite element model allowing to simulate the sub dermal tissue deformation and a multibody model allowing to estimate the muscular and joint forces. A coupling method of the two models have been developed allowing simulating a position from where the all discomfort factors are estimated. A finite element model has been developed after having done a sensitivity analysis on the different model parameters (mesh, geometry, material law). A multibody model developed by Anybody was used to be associated with this finite element model. This iterative coupling method between the two models allowed realizing an adjustment of the initial posture in the seat. To simulate the whole population and is large morphological diversity, a parametric shape model was developed from 3d experimental data, this shape model allowing to obtain a finite element model representing any kind of anthropometry. Different validation processes have been realized with experimental data and subject-specific model. The simulated extern pressures were compared to experimental data. An experimental study done in an open MRI allowed to measure the different subcutaneous tissue to compare it to the simulated data. A digital tool is consequently now available to simulate the impact of the seat on the passenger, however future studies should focus on the one hand on the models studying the internal morphological variations between people, the person positioning in the seat, the time influence on the soft tissue and on the other hand on the discomfort and fatigue criteria

Nowadays, increasing pressure from legislation and customer demands in the automotive industry are forcing manufacturers to produce greener vehicles with lower emissions and fuel consumption.As a result, electrified and hybrid vehicles are a growing popular alternative to traditional internal combustion engines (ICE). The noise from an electric vehicle comes mainly from contact between tyres and road, wind resistance and driveline. The noise emitted from the driveline is for the mostpart related to the gearbox. When developing a driveline, it is a factor of importance to estimate the noise radiating from the gearbox to achieve an acceptable design.Gears are used extensively in the driveline of electric vehicles. As the gears are in mesh, a main intrusive concern is known as gear whine noise. Gear whine noise is an undesired vibroacoustic phenomenon and is likely to originate through the gear contacts and be transferred through themechanical components to the housing where the vibrations are converted into airborne and structure-borne noise. The gear whine noise originates primarily from the excitation coming from transmission error (TE). Transmission error is defined as the difference between the ideal smoothtransfer of motion of a gear and what is in practice due to lack of smoothness.The main objective of this study is to simulate the vibrations generated by the gear whine noise in an electric powertrain line developed by AVL Vicura. The electric transmission used in this study provides only a fixed overall gear ratio, i.e. 9.59, under all operation conditions. It is assumed thatthe system is excited only by the transmission error and the mesh stiffness of the gear contacts. In order to perform NVH analysis under different operating conditions, a multibody dynamics model according to the AVL Excite program has been developed. The dynamic simulations are thencompared with previous experimental measurements provided by AVL Vicura.Two validation criteria have been used to analyse the dynamic behaviour of the AVL Excite model: signal processing using the FFT method and comparison with the experimental measurements.The results from the AVL Excite model show that the FFT criterion is quite successful and all excitation frequencies are properly observed in FFT plots. Nevertheless, when it comes to the second criterion, as long as not all dynamic parameters of the system such as damping or stiffnesscoefficients are provided with certainty in the model, it is too difficult to investigate the accuracy of the AVL Excite model. Another investigation is a numerical design study to analyses how the damping coefficients influence the response. After reducing the damping parameters, the results show that the housing and bearings have the highest influence on the response. If more acceptable results are desired,future studies must be concentrated on these to obtain more acceptable damping values. / För närvarande tvingar ökat tryck från lagstiftning och kundkrav inom bilindustrin tillverkarna attproducera grönare fordon med lägre utsläpp och bränsleförbrukning. Som ett resultat ärelektrifierade och hybridfordon ett växande populärt alternativ till traditionellaförbränningsmotorer (ICE). Bullret från ett elfordon kommer främst från kontakten mellan däckoch väg, vindmotstånd och drivlinan. Bullret från drivlinan är i huvudsak relaterat till växellådan.Vid utveckling av en drivlina är det av betydelse att uppskatta bullret från växellådan för att uppnåen acceptabel design.Utväxlingar används i stor utsträckning i elfordons drivlina. Eftersom kugghjulen är i kontaktuppstår ett huvudproblem som är känt som ett vinande ljud från kugghjulskontakten.Kugghjulsljud är ett oönskat vibro-akustiskt fenomen och uppstår sannolikt på grund avkugghjulkontakterna och överförs via de mekaniska komponenterna till växellådshuset därvibrationerna omvandlas till luftburet och strukturburet ljud. Kugghjulsljudet härstammarhuvudsakligen från exciteringen som kommer från transmissionsfel (TE) i kugghjulskontakten.Överföringsfelet definieras som skillnaden mellan den ideala smidiga rörelseöverföringen hoskugghjulen och rörelsen som sker i verkligheten på grund av ojämnheter.Huvudsyftet med denna studie är att simulera vibrationerna som genereras avkugghjulskontakterna i en elektrisk drivlina utvecklad av AVL Vicura. Den elektriska drivlinan somanvänds i denna studie har endast ett fast utväxlingsförhållande, dvs 9,59, för alladriftsförhållanden. Det antas att systemet är exciterat endast av överföringsfelet och kugghjulensstyvhet i kuggkontakterna. För att kunna utföra NVH-analys under olika driftsförhållanden har enstelkroppsdynamikmodell utvecklats med hjälp av programmet AVL Excite. De dynamiskasimuleringarna jämförs sedan med tidigare experimentella mätningar som tillhandahålls av AVLVicura.Två valideringskriterier har använts för att analysera det dynamiska beteendet hos AVL Excitemodellen:signalbehandling med FFT-metoden och jämförelse med experimentella mätningar.Resultaten från AVL Excite-modellen visar att FFT-kriteriet är ganska framgångsrikt och allaexcitationsfrekvenser observeras korrekt i FFT-diagrammen. Men när det gäller det andra kriteriet,så länge som inte alla dynamiska parametrar i systemet, såsom dämpnings- ellerstyvhetskoefficienter, är tillförlitliga i modellen, är det för svårt att undersöka exaktheten hos AVLExcite-modellen.En annan undersökning som utförts är en numerisk designstudie för att analysera hurdämpningskoefficienterna påverkar responsen. Efter minskning av dämpningsparametrarna visarresultaten att växellådshus och lager har störst inflytande på resultatet. Om mer acceptabla resultatär önskvärda måste framtida studier koncentreras på dessa parametrar för att uppnå mer acceptabladämpningsvärden.

Este trabalho utiliza a técnica de modelagem de sistemas multicorpos para analisar o comportamento dinâmico de um vagão ferroviário de carga, trafegando sobre via tangente com desnivelamento transversal periódico. O estudo exibe a modelagem dos principais vínculos deste sistema, como o contato entre o prato e o pião, molas helicoidais e sistema de amortecimento de atrito seco da suspensão primária. A modelagem do contato entre o prato e o pião sugerida, é baseada em um modelo de elastic foundation, e utiliza a característica geométrica dos corpos em contato. O modelo dinâmico de atrito desenvolvido possui atuação bidirecional, sendo utilizado nos elementos dissipativos da suspensão. A matriz de rigidez das molas helicoidais da suspensão primária é obtida utilizando o Triedro de Frenet-Serret e o Segundo Teorema de Castigliano. O modelo matemático, confeccionado com a ferramenta de modelagem ADAMS/Rail, é composto por 90 corpos rígidos e uma caixa flexível e possui 210 graus de liberdade. A comparação dos resultados obtidos na identificação modal experimental e nas análises do modelo comprovou que as hipóteses adotadas na modelagem são aceitáveis, reforçando a utilização dos modelos multicorpos na análise dinâmica do veículo guiado. A variação da velocidade de tráfego do veículo, sobre diferentes comprimentos de irregularidade da via, proporcionou os resultados para confecção dos mapas de resposta dinâmica. Esses mapas foram traçados para o ângulo rolagem, alívio das forças no contato roda-trilho e razão L/V no rodeiro de ataque, e identificaram as regiões mais sensíveis para a rolagem harmônica. A rolagem e torção da caixa foram identificados como os movimentos principais do veículo, quando em tráfego em via com desnivelamento transversal periódico. O conjunto de prato e pião gasto aumentou a faixa de velocidade indicada como crítica para a rolagem, piorando os resultados para velocidades mais baixas. O aumento do amortecimento da suspensão primária, por meio da inclinação do lenoir link, diminuiu os valores de rolagem e do alívio em comparação ao caso nominal. A utilização do ampara-balaço de contato constante propiciou a diminuição do ângulo de rolagem, alívio das forças e da razão L/V do rodeiro na região de ressonância. O aumento do amortecimento deste vínculo, devido à mola elastomérica, proporcionou resultados ainda melhores e indicou que a alteração das características da suspensão secundária pode reduzir a amplitude do movimento de rolagem harmônica. A metodologia de análise do comportamento dinâmico proposta, através dos mapas de resposta, pode auxiliar na determinação das faixas críticas de velocidade de um vagão ferroviário de carga, no tráfego em vias cujas características típicas das irregularidades são conhecidas. Empresas do setor ferroviário podem aplicar este método no projeto de novos vagões, bem como no estudo da velocidade crítica de determinada frota já em operação. / This study uses the multibody system modeling techniques to analyze the dynamic behavior of a railway freight wagon, traveling over tangent track with periodic cross level defect. The study shows the modeling of the main links of the system, as the center plate contact, helical springs and dry friction damper. The suggested modeling of the center plate contact is based on an elastic foundation model, and uses the geometric characteristic of these bodies. The dynamic friction model developed is bidirectional, being used in the dissipative suspension elements. The stiffness matrix of the helical springs is obtained using the Frenet-Serret trihedral and the Second Castigliano Theorem. The mathematical model, developed with the software ADAMS/Rail, is composed of 90 rigid bodies and a flexible car body and has 210 degrees of freedom. A comparison of results obtained in experimental modal identification and analysis of the mathematical model showed that the assumptions made in modeling are acceptable, reinforcing the use of multibody models in dynamic analysis of rail vehicles. The traffic speed variation on different lengths of track irregularity provided the results to make the dynamic response maps. These maps were drawn to roll angle, vertical force in the wheel-rail contact and wheelset L/V and identified the most sensitive regions to harmonic roll. The roll and torsion of the car body were identified as the main movements of the vehicle, when traveling over tangent track with periodic cross level defect. The use of worn center plate increased the critical speed range to the roll motion and decreases the performance for slower speeds. The increase in the damping of the primary suspension, through the lenoir link inclination, decreased the rolling angle and wheel lift in comparison to the nominal case. The use of constant contact side bearer reduced the roll angle and wheelset L/V ratio and increased the vertical load on wheels in the resonance region. The use of elastomeric side bearer provided even better results indicating that changes of the secondary suspension characteristics can minimize the movement of harmonic roll. The methodology for analyzing the dynamic behavior, through the proposed response maps, can assist in determining the critical speed ranges of a railway freight wagon running over a track whose typical irregularities characteristics are known. Companies in the rail industry can apply this method in the design of new cars, and study the critical velocity of a given railway fleet already in operation.

Dans cette étude de thèse, le problème du co-design mécanique/contrôle d’attitude avec méthodesde la commande robuste structurée est considéré. Le problème est abordé en développant une techniquepour la modélisation de systèmes flexibles multi-corps, appelé modèle Two-Input Two-Output Port (TITOP).En utilisant des modèles d’éléments finis comme données d’entrée, ce cadre général permet de déterminer, souscertaines hypothèses, un modèle linéaire d’un système de corps flexibles enchaînés. De plus, cette modélisationTITOP permet de considérer des variations paramétriques dans le système, une caractéristique nécessaire pourréaliser des études de co-design contrôle/structure. La technique de modélisation TITOP est aussi étenduepour la prise en compte des actionneurs piézoélectriques et des joints pivots qui peuvent apparaître dans lessous-structures. Différentes stratégies de contrôle des modes rigides et flexibles sont étudiées avec les modèles obtenus afin de trouver la meilleure architecture de contrôle pour la réjection des perturbations basse fréquence etl’amortissement des vibrations. En exploitant les propriétés d’outils de synthèse H1 structurée, la mise enoeuvre d’un schéma de co-design est expliquée, en considérant les spécifications du système (bande passantedu système et amortissement des modes) sous forme de contraintes H1. L’étude d’un tel co-design contrôled’attitude/mécanique d’un satellite flexible est illustré en utilisant toutes les techniques développées, optimisantsimultanément une loi de contrôle optimisée et certains paramètres structuraux. / In this PhD thesis, the integrated control/structure design of a large flexible spacecraft isaddressed using structured H1 synthesis. The problem is endeavored by developing a modeling technique forflexible multibody systems, called the Two Input Two Output Port (TITOP) model. This general frameworkallows the assembly of a flexible multibody system in chain-like or star-like structure, using finite elementmodels as input data. Additionally, the TITOP modeling technique allows the consideration of parametricvariations inside the system, a necessary characteristic in order to perform integrated control/structure design. In contrast to another widely used method, the assumed modes method, the TITOP modelling technique is robust against changes in the boundary conditions which link the flexible bodies. Furthermore, the TITOP modeling technique can be used as an accurate approximation even when kinematic nonlinearities can be large. The TITOP modeling technique is extended to the modeling of piezoelectric actuators and sensors for the control of flexible structures and revolute joints. Different control strategies, either for controlling rigid body and flexible body motion, are tested with the developed models for obtaining the best controller’s architecture in terms of perturbation rejection and vibration damping. The implementation of the integrated control/structure design in the structured H1 scheme is developed considering the different system’s specifications, such as system’s bandwidth or modes damping, in the form of H1 weighting functions. The integrated attitude control/structure design of a flexiblesatellite is performed using all the developed techniques and the optimization of the control law and severalstructural parameters is achieved.

Cette thèse a été réalisée dans le secteur de l'industrie automobile, en collaboration avec le Groupe Renault et concerne en particulier le développement de systèmes d'aide à la conduite avancés et de véhicules autonomes. Les progrès réalisés par la communauté scientifique durant les dernières décennies, dans les domaines de l'informatique et de la robotique notamment, ont été si importants qu'ils permettent aujourd'hui la mise en application de systèmes complexes au sein des véhicules. Ces systèmes visent dans un premier temps à réduire les risques inhérents à la conduite en assistant les conducteurs, puis dans un second temps à offrir des moyens de transport entièrement autonomes. Les méthodes de SLAM multi-objets actuellement intégrées au sein de ces véhicules reposent pour majeure partie sur l'utilisation de capteurs embarqués très performants tels que des télémètres laser, au coût relativement élevé. Les caméras numériques en revanche, de par leur coût largement inférieur, commencent à se démocratiser sur certains véhicules de grande série et assurent généralement des fonctions d'assistance à la conduite, pour l'aide au parking ou le freinage d'urgence, par exemple. En outre, cette implantation plus courante permet également d'envisager leur utilisation afin de reconstruire l'environnement dynamique proche des véhicules en trois dimensions. D'un point de vue scientifique, les techniques de SLAM visuel multi-objets existantes peuvent être regroupées en deux catégories de méthodes. La première catégorie et plus ancienne historiquement concerne les méthodes stéréo, faisant usage de plusieurs caméras à champs recouvrants afin de reconstruire la scène dynamique observée. La plupart reposent en général sur l'utilisation de paires stéréo identiques et placées à faible distance l'une de l'autre, ce qui permet un appariement dense des points d'intérêt dans les images et l'estimation de cartes de disparités utilisées lors de la segmentation du mouvement des points reconstruits. L'autre catégorie de méthodes, dites monoculaires, ne font usage que d'une unique caméra lors du processus de reconstruction. Cela implique la compensation du mouvement propre du système d'acquisition lors de l'estimation du mouvement des autres objets mobiles de la scène de manière indépendante. Plus difficiles, ces méthodes posent plusieurs problèmes, notamment le partitionnement de l'espace de départ en plusieurs sous-espaces représentant les mouvements individuels de chaque objet mobile, mais aussi le problème d'estimation de l'échelle relative de reconstruction de ces objets lors de leur agrégation au sein de la scène statique. La problématique industrielle de cette thèse, consistant en la réutilisation des systèmes multi-caméras déjà implantés au sein des véhicules, majoritairement composés d'un caméra frontale et de caméras surround équipées d'objectifs très grand angle, a donné lieu au développement d'une méthode de reconstruction multi-objets adaptée aux systèmes multi-caméras hétérogènes en stéréo wide-baseline. Cette méthode est incrémentale et permet la reconstruction de points mobiles éparses, grâce notamment à plusieurs contraintes géométriques de segmentation des points reconstruits ainsi que de leur trajectoire. Enfin, une évaluation quantitative et qualitative des performances de la méthode a été menée sur deux jeux de données distincts, dont un a été développé durant ces travaux afin de présenter des caractéristiques similaires aux systèmes hétérogènes existants. / This Ph.D. thesis, which has been carried out in the automotive industry in association with Renault Group, mainly focuses on the development of advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles. The progress made by the scientific community during the last decades in the fields of computer science and robotics has been so important that it now enables the implementation of complex embedded systems in vehicles. These systems, primarily designed to provide assistance in simple driving scenarios and emergencies, now aim to offer fully autonomous transport. Multibody SLAM methods currently used in autonomous vehicles often rely on high-performance and expensive onboard sensors such as LIDAR systems. On the other hand, digital video cameras are much cheaper, which has led to their increased use in newer vehicles to provide driving assistance functions, such as parking assistance or emergency braking. Furthermore, this relatively common implementation now allows to consider their use in order to reconstruct the dynamic environment surrounding a vehicle in three dimensions. From a scientific point of view, existing multibody visual SLAM techniques can be divided into two categories of methods. The first and oldest category concerns stereo methods, which use several cameras with overlapping fields of view in order to reconstruct the observed dynamic scene. Most of these methods use identical stereo pairs in short baseline, which allows for the dense matching of feature points to estimate disparity maps that are then used to compute the motions of the scene. The other category concerns monocular methods, which only use one camera during the reconstruction process, meaning that they have to compensate for the ego-motion of the acquisition system in order to estimate the motion of other objects. These methods are more difficult in that they have to address several additional problems, such as motion segmentation, which consists in clustering the initial data into separate subspaces representing the individual movement of each object, but also the problem of the relative scale estimation of these objects before their aggregation within the static scene. The industrial motive for this work lies in the use of existing multi-camera systems already present in actual vehicles to perform dynamic scene reconstruction. These systems, being mostly composed of a front camera accompanied by several surround fisheye cameras in wide-baseline stereo, has led to the development of a multibody reconstruction method dedicated to such heterogeneous systems. The proposed method is incremental and allows for the reconstruction of sparse mobile points as well as their trajectory using several geometric constraints. Finally, a quantitative and qualitative evaluation conducted on two separate datasets, one of which was developed during this thesis in order to present characteristics similar to existing multi-camera systems, is provided.

The link suspension is the most prevailing suspension system for freight wagons in Central and Western Europe. The system design is simple and has existed for more than 100 years. However, still its characteristics are not fully understood. This thesis investigates the dynamic performance of freight wagons and comprises five parts: In the first part a review of freight wagon running gear is made. The different suspension systems are described and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The second part focuses on the lateral force-displacement characteristics of the link suspension. Results from stationary measurements on freight wagons and laboratory tests of the link suspension characteristics are presented. To improve the understanding of various mechanisms and phenomena in link suspension systems, a simulation model is developed. In the third part the multibody dynamic simulation model is discussed. The previous freight wagon model developed at KTH is able to explain many of the phenomena observed in tests. In some cases, however, simulated and measured running behaviour differ. Therefore, a new simulation model is presented and validated against on-track test results. The performance of standard two-axle freight wagons is investigated. The most important parameters for the running behaviour of the vehicle are the suspension characteristics. The variation in characteristics between different wagons is large due to geometrical tolerances of the components, wear, corrosion, moisture or other lubrication. The influence of the variation in suspension characteristics and other parameters on the behaviour of the wagon, on tangent track and in curves, is discussed. Finally, suggestions for improvements of the system are made. A majority of the traffic related track deterioration cost originates from freight traffic. With heavier and faster freight trains the maintenance cost is likely to increase. In the fourth part the possibility to improve ride comfort and reduce track forces on standard freight wagons with link suspension is discussed. The variation of characteristics in link suspension running gear is considerable and unfavourable conditions leading to hunting are likely to occur. Supported by on-track tests and multibody dynamic simulations, it is concluded that the running behaviour of two-axled wagons with UIC double-link suspension as well as wagons with link suspension bogies (G-type) can be improved when the running gear are equipped with supplementary hydraulic dampers. Finally in the fifth part the effects of different types of running gear and operational conditions on the track deterioration marginal cost — in terms of settlement in the ballast, component fatigue, wear and RCF — is investigated. Considerable differences in track deterioration cost per produced ton-km for the different types of running gear are observed. Axle load is an important parameter for settlement and component fatigue. Also the height of centre of gravity has significant influence on track deterioration, especially on track sections with high cant deficiency or cant excess. / QC 20100802

In this work we investigate the use of state-of-the-art tools for the regulation of complex, non-linear systems to improve the methodologies currently applied to trim comprehensive virtual prototypes of rotors and rotorcrafts. Among the several methods that have been proposed in the literature, the auto-pilot approach has the potential to solve trim problems efficiently even for the large and complex vehicle models of modern comprehensive finite element-based analysis codes. In this approach, the trim condition is obtained by adjusting the controls so as to virtually ``fly' the system to the final steady (periodic) flight condition. Published proportional auto-pilots show to work well in many practical instances. However, they cannot guarantee good performance and stability in all flight conditions of interest. Limit-cycle oscillations in control time histories are often observed in practice because of the non-linear nature of the problem and the difficulties in enforcing the constant-in-time condition for the controls. To address all the above areas of concern, in this research we propose a new auto-pilot, based on non-linear model-predictive control (NMPC). The formulation uses a non-linear reference model of the system augmented with an adaptive neural element, which identifies and corrects the mismatch between reduced model and controlled system. The methodology is tested on the wind-tunnel trim of a rotor multibody model and compared to an existing implementation of a classic auto-pilot. The proposed controller shows good performance without the need of a potentially very expensive tuning phase, which is required in classical auto-pilots. Moreover, model-predictive control provides a framework for guaranteeing stability of the non-linear closed-loop system, so it seems to be a viable approach for trimming complete rotorcraft comprehensive models in free-flight.

Simulation of maneuvers with multibody models of rotorcraft vehicles is an important research area due to its complexity. During the maneuvering flight, some important design limitations are encountered such as maximum loads and maximum turning rates near the proximity of the flight envelope. This increases the demand on high fidelity models in order to define appropriate controls to steer the model close to the desired trajectory while staying inside the boundaries. A framework based on the hierarchical decomposition of the problem is used for this study. The system should be capable of generating the track by itself based on the given criteria and also capable of piloting the model of the vehicle along this track. The generated track must be compatible with the dynamic characteristics of the vehicle. Defining the constraints for the maneuver is of crucial importance when the vehicle is operating close to its performance boundaries. In order to make the problem computationally feasible, two models of the same vehicle are used where the reduced model captures the coarse level flight dynamics, while the fine scale comprehensive model represents the plant. The problem is defined by introducing planning layer and control layer strategies. The planning layer stands for solving the optimal control problem for a specific maneuver of a reduced vehicle model. The control layer takes the resulting optimal trajectory as an optimal reference path, then tracks it by using a non-linear model predictive formulation and accordingly steers the multibody model. Reduced models for the planning and tracking layers are adapted by using neural network approach online to optimize the predictive capabilities of planner and tracker. Optimal neural network architecture is obtained to augment the reduced model in the best way. The methodology of adaptive learning rate is experimented with different strategies. Some useful training modes and algorithms are proposed for these type of applications. It is observed that the neural network increased the predictive capabilities of the reduced model in a robust way. The proposed framework is demonstrated on a maneuvering problem by studying an obstacle avoidance example with violent pull-up and pull-down.