Numerical simulation of system dynamics is today a standard in the design of cars and trucks. The multibody system (MBS) analysis
is applied to suspension kinematics and compliant kinematics, handling performance and ride comfort as well as to the generation
of load data for lifetime prediction. These simulation tasks are carried out as an off-line simulation. Over the last couple
of years the MBS method has been established in the real-time simulation domain, typically for the design of vehicle control
systems and the test of electronic control units, using Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) simulation. This paper shows how the transition
from offline multi-body-system (MBS) models to real-time simulation can be achieved automatically by using a component oriented
reduction procedure for vehicle suspensions, which keeps the full component parameterization. This necessitates a transformation
of the equations of motion from differential algebraic equations (DAE) into ordinary differential equations (ODE). For use
in HiL-simulators the equations of motion with open interfaces of the applied forces and torques are provided to be integrated
in a modular dynamic ride model.
Keywords hardware-in-the-loop - real-time - non-linear reduction - suspension kinematics - handling simulation
The work has been carried out during the employment of the author at INTEC GmbH, Argelsrieder Feld 13; 82234 Wessling, Germany;
e-mail: intec@simpack.de