B026245 - ON ROAD VEHICLES TESTING

Italian, English

• Fundamentals of car and motorcycle dynamics
• Vehicle dynamics simulations
• Instrumentation overview
• Driving simulators
• Road vehicle testing
• Testing with human subjects
• Vehicle testing design

• Motor vehicle dynamics (Genta)
• Motorcycle dynamics (Cossalter)
• Handbook of driving simulation for engineering, medicine, and psychology (Fischer et al.)
• Meccanica sperimentale : Misure ed analisi delle sollecitazioni (A. Bray, V. Vicentini)

The aim of the course is to facilitate students in their process of developing a thorough understanding of the main factors influencing the realm of road vehicle testing. The course will improve the ability to learn from the literature (what is the aim? What was the method? What are the findings? How do they translate to real life?), and to develop a critical approach to address the following questions:
• How to test vehicle behaviour?
• How to investigate driver behaviour (interaction vehicle-driver-environment)?
• How to validate vehicle or driver models?

The course will transmit the following knowledge:
• cc8: Knowledge and understanding of the realm of ground vehicles with focus to the kinematic and dynamic aspects of two- and four-wheeled vehicles.
• cc13: Knowledge and understanding of methods for designing and executing complex experiments.

The course will train on the following skills:
• ca5: Ability to apply knowledge and understanding in the selection and use of appropriate equipment, tools, procedures and methods, with adequate awareness of their potential and limitations.
• ca5: Ability to design and execute complex experiments, also involving advanced instrumentation and software.
• ca10: Ability to conduct an experiment, individually and as members of a group, with adequate understanding of the context of engineering problems and of the interdisciplinary implications that characterize the disciplines of mechanical engineering.
• ca13: Ability to communicate and transfer knowledge, understanding, findings, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors.

Basic knowledge on vehicle dynamics

The course will be delivered both in the classroom, mainly through traditional lectures and seminars but also with flipped classroom activities (in which students will present their own in-depth reviews), and in the lab, through demonstrations and experiments.

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The exam consists of three tests:
• a progress oral exam, in the form of a short presentation of the results of an in-depth review conducted by the student on a topic assigned during the course (optional);
• a group work consisting in the design and completion of an experimental test, and final presentation of the activity (highly recommended);
• in alternative to the group work, a final oral exam on the theoretical elements of the course and on the experimental activities conducted in the lab.

- Introduction to car and motorcycle dynamics in the perspective of fiel testing.
- Introduction to CAN bus communication and other instrumentation commonly used in road vehicle testing.
- Introduction to global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)
- Lab session on the instrumentation for field testing: oscilloscope, inertial measurement unit, dSPACE unit and use of ControlDesk software for data plotting and recording.
- Lab practical experience with scopes, use of a dSPACE unit, calibration of pressure sensors, setup of an instrumented vehicle.
- Demonstration of experimental field testing: instrumented motorcycle equipped with prototype system of autonomous emergency braking.
- How to perform a literature review in the field of road vehicle testing.
- Design and execution of experimental testing in the field involving participants.
- Practical experience in the field: design and execution of a simple field experiment using a bicycle and little additional instrumentation.
- The role of the human factor in road vehicle testing.
- Ethical principles in non-clinical human research.
- A review of past experimental field test studies involving road vehicles.
- The role of software in road vehicle testing: data collection, data analysis and dynamic simulation software.
- Introduction to driving simulators, with a special focus on motorcycle riding simulators.
- Demonstration of the ABRAM Plus motorcycle simulator: seeking for realistic steering control and feedback via low-cost, passive approaches.
- Lab activity on road vehicle testing: group work dealing with the definition, design and execution of a new experimental study or with the analysis of data collected in a past experiment.