Dynamic simulation and characteristics analysis for a light bus based on a detailed multi-body model

Multi-body system dynamics is an efficient approach for vehicle dynamic simulation and performance analysis. The more sophisticated multi-body system softwares provide powerful tools for vehicle designers. The integration technique of CAD/CAM/CAE is being developed and applied more widely in automotive engineering. In this paper, considering the limits of a traditional multi-rigid body method for vehicle modeling and because of the fact that the non-linearity and typical flexible properties physically exist in many vehicle components, a rigid-elastic coupling multi-body system dynamic model is established for a light bus. The full vehicle model of the bus is built by CAD software in a 3D solid fashion. Hence, the necessary modeling parameters of the bus are obtained for simulations. The effects of the non-linearity and flexible properties of the components are investigated in detail. Simulations results are compared with the results of fields tests and the effectiveness of the model is validated.