Ride comfort analysis of commercial vehicle using flexible multi-body and finite element methods

The common theory of building rigid-elastic coupling model with component mode synthesis method is introduced simply. The rigid full vehicle model of some commercial vehicle was built with multi-body system simulation software MSC Adams/Car. According to the National Standard of China GB/T 4970-1996, the simulations in even speed for full-vehicle model on the national road level B were carried out. And its results are conformable to that of vehicle test on the proving ground, therefore, it proves that virtual prototype model is correct and believable. The deformation of the cab was considered and the flex cab template and rigid-elastic coupling model were built with the help of commercial FEA (finite element analysis) program Hyper-mesh and multi-body system simulation software MSC Adams/Car. Via the simulation and the results, the analysis of the effect of the flex cab to the ride comfort was carried out. It can conclude that a flexible multi-body dynamics is the efficient method to analyze the ride comfort of the vehicle. The deformation of the cab should be considered when the ride comfort is performed. A flexible multi-body dynamic model gives better results than a rigid body model, although it takes longer to construct.