An experimental comparison of mathematical heavy-duty city bus models to evaluate passenger ride comfort induced by road roughness

Abstract

Mathematical models have been used widely to investigate the vehicle-passenger-infrastructure dynamical interaction; however, the responses of various heavy-duty city bus models to estimate ride comfort induced by road roughness are still unknown. In this study, the comparison of dynamical response of buses used in city transport is investigated based on multi-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) bus models developed in MATLAB/Simulink and correlated against passenger ride comfort criteria. The results showed that 9-DOF full bus model is the best option to estimate passenger ride comfort within an error of 2%, as compared to 5-DOF half and 3-DOF quarter bus models with 7% and 20% errors using one wheel-track, and 24% and 36% errors using two wheel-tracks, respectively. The error was calculated as the difference between simulated results from three bus models and the measured data. These mathematical bus models can be customized for estimating passenger ride comfort and surface roughness of dedicated bus/bus-rapid-transit lanes.

Integrated Vehicle–Tire–Pavement Approach for Determining Pavement Structure–Induced Rolling Resistance under Dynamic Loading

“…Dynamic interactions between heavy trucks and pavement-surface roughness have been investigated using field experiments and vehicle models ( 27 , 28 ). The dynamic models, including quarter-truck, half-truck, and full-truck, can capture dynamic wheel loads induced by road roughness profiles.…”

VEqMon2D—Equations of motion generation tool of 2D vehicles with Matlab

“…Then simpler models are made of a combination of lumped masses, rigid bodies and elastic connections using multibody dynamics. Examples for the use of these type of models can be found in road infrastructure studies focusing on pavement deterioration [1], vehicle-bridge interaction [2], or vehicle assisted bridge monitoring [3,4]. In the field of railway engineering, these simplified vehicle representations have been used, for instance, to E-mail address: daniel.cantero@ntnu.no.…”

“…Inputs.num_axles_per_body = [3,3,2]; Inputs.num_axles_per_group = [1,2,3,1,1]; Inputs.with_articulation = [1,0];…”

Characterization of Urban Bus Acceleration Cycles for Fatigue Analysis with a Portable Low-Cost Acquisition System

“…With respect to the sampling rate, relevant literature shows that the most significant loads arising from pavement irregularities range from 0.5 Hz to 50 Hz [16]. Furthermore, the damping effect of the suspension system absorbs frequencies from 10 to 15 Hz, depending on the working conditions and suspension design [17,18]. It is therefore usual to find literature where acceleration signals are filtered out from frequencies of 20-25 Hz or even up to 2 Hz when the study focuses on horizontal accelerations [17,19,20].…”

“…Regarding the placement of the accelerometer within the buses, it was successfully validated that the car body can be 3 Journal of Sensors considered a rigid sprung mass for dynamic behavior modeling [18]. It is thus common practice to base these measurements on one accelerometer usually installed on the bus floor [19][20][21].…”