Evaluation and Experimental Validation of Efficient Simulation Models for Optimization of an Electrical Formula Car

Abstract

This paper presents two different ways of modeling a road vehicle for general vehicle dynamics investigation and especially to optimize the suspension geometry. Therefore a numerically highly efficient model is sought such that it can be used later in gradient-based optimization of the suspension geometry. Based on a formula style vehicle with double wishbone suspension setup, a vehicle model based on ODE-formulation using a set of minimal coordinates is built up. The kinematic loops occurring in the double wishbone suspension setup are resolved analytically to a set of independent coordinates. A second vehicle model based on a redundant coordinate formulation is used to compare the efficiency and accuracy. The performance is evaluated and the accuracy is validated with measurement data from a real formula car.