B0222 - DYNAMICS AND COMPLIANT DESIGN OF ROAD VEHICLES M

Learning outcomes

The course is divided in two modules. The aim of the first module is to provide knowledge about vehicle dynamics. Theoretical and numerical approaches will be discussed to this end, as tools that will allow the students to predict the performance of cars in terms of longitudinal dynamics, lateral dynamics, handling, comfort and stability. The aim of the second module is to provide the theoretical basis and the practical skills required to design embedded hardware and firmware compliant with industrial standards (safety, interoperability, maintainability). In addition, model-based design and automatic code generation using Matlab/Simulink will be considered.

Course contents

Wheel-terrain contact models (10 hours)
Main parameters for 3D tire models (slip, camber, caster and other angles). Deformable tire models. Quarter car model and effect of suspended masses on ride harshness.

Longitudinal dynamics (10 hours)
Performance limits and goals. Powertrain modeling. Torque and power curves. Gear ratios and their optimization. Traction limits. Aerodynamic loads. Simplified numerical models for longitudinal dynamics and component-based software tools.

Handling: lateral and 3D dynamics (10 hours)
Main types of suspension. Kinematics of suspensions. Roll center. Steering architectures and their kinematics.
Geometry of masses. Stability, oversteering and understeering, stability plots.
Numerical models with many degrees of freedom and multibody software tools.

Embedded hardware for compliant systems (2 hr)
Sensing, control, actuation, redundancy, power supply, insulation.

Structured approach to firmware design (2 hr)
V-model, levels of abstraction, validation, verification, documentation.

Implementation: the building system (5 hr)
Source code, preprocessor, compiler, assembly language, machine code, internal operation of the CPU, registers, stack, assembler, linker, optimization.

Software testing and documentation (2 hr)
Unit testing, static and dynamic code analysis, code coverage, process documentation, inline documentation, Doxygen, authoring tools.

Version control systems (2 hr)
Concurrent development, centralized vs. distributed VCSs, SVN, GIT, repositories, update, commit, branching, tagging, merging.

Standards (1 hr)
Standardization organizations, operation, stage codes.

Safety standards (2 hr)
Introduction to safety standards, safety integrity levels, good programming practices.

Coding standards (2 hr)
Motivation, MISRA C, CERT C, Barr Group, rule examples.

Communication protocols (2 hr)
CAN, CANopen, J1939, introduction to industrial communication protocols.

Fixed point ALUs (5 hr)
Fixed point numeric formats, fixed point arithmetic, normalized fractional format, calculations with normalized quantities, examples (Ohm’s law, magnetic flux observer for IMs), TDL calculation structures, µC vs. DSP, fixed point numeric saturation.

Real time computation (2 hr)
Numerical approximation of functions and differential calculus, optimization.

Watchdogs (1 hr)
Timeout watchdog, windowed watchdog, hardware watchdog, independence, best practices.

Bootloaders (1 hr)
MCU vs. FPGA and SoC, MCU booting sequence, interrupt vector table relocation, OpenBLT.

Memory management and protection (1 hr)
Paging, alignment, MMU/MPU, virtual memory, error checking and management.

Readings/Bibliography

Georg Rill. Road Vehicle Dynamics: Fundamentals and Modeling. CRC press.

William F. Milliken e Douglas L., "Race car vehicle dynamics", SAE Society of Automotive Engineers, 1995, ISBN 978-1-56091-526-3.

PDFs, presentations and other material provided by the teacher.

Teaching methods

Lectures and hands-on sessions using software tools.

Assessment methods

Oral exam, with questions on the topics discussed during the lessons and a discussion of the results obtained during hands-on sessions and homework.

Teaching tools

MATLAB, Simulink, hardware-in-the-loop systems.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Tasora

See the website of Carlo Concari