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Vehicle Terrain Performance Laboratory
Technical Overview
Scope
The lab has adopted a holistic approach toward its research, investigating all aspects of vehicle-terrain interactions, and using a broad range of measurement, analysis, and modeling tools. This approach allows the researchers to broaden their expertise while gaining a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues that are involved in improving vehicle system performance.  The vehicles being studied include passenger cars and trucks, commercial off-road and military vehicles, motorcycles, and more. Critical components of the vehicle system are studied in detail: tires, dampers, and other chassis and steering components. Of equal interest to the lab is the terrain that vehicles traverse. Complete understanding of interactions between vehicle systems and terrain is the founding research goal of the lab. Terrain includes the on-road driving experience and harsh off-road conditions. The on-road driving experience includes test tracks, highway travel, and rough city streets. Off-road terrain may be deformable surfaces such as soil, snow, and sand, or non-deformable surfaces such as rocks and fallen trees.
Understanding the loading that results from a vehicle traversing terrain is the first step in studying the performance. This seminal issue requires a thorough understanding of terramechanics, tire/soil interactions, tire dynamics, chassis design, and vehicle dynamics. Performance can also be the subjective response of a passenger when traveling in a vehicle; in which case haptics, bio-dynamics, and psychometrics will be investigated. These are just a few examples of the many performance issues that the Vehicle Terrain Performance Laboratory is pursuing.
The Vehicle Terrain Performance Laboratory is located in the Charles Hawkins Research Center directly adjacent to the IALR. This new facility has 2000 sq. ft. of dedicated vehicle research space including a vehicle hoist and vehicle exhaust ports.
Measurement System
The Vehicle Terrain Measurement System (VTMS) is a state-of-the-art test bed for integrating technologies from different disciplines, allowing researchers to validate their theoretical and computation work with experimental data. The system is capable of simultaneously scanning the complete topology of the terrain in 3-D; tracking the position, orientation, and speed of the vehicle; and measuring the wheel forces and torques. This data is simultaneously acquired allowing validation of vehicle and tire models, prediction of terramechanics, tuning of chassis components, and prediction of mobility and durability.
Vehicle and Tire Modeling
The Vehicle Terrain Performance Laboratory performs empirical and analytical modeling of the vehicle and tire. The system is capable of simultaneously scanning the complete topology of the terrain in 3-D; tracking the position, orientation, and speed of the vehicle; and measuring the wheel forces and torques. This data is simultaneously acquired allowing validation of vehicle and tire models, prediction of terramechanics, tuning of chassis components, and prediction of mobility and durability.
Terrain Modeling
The system is capable of simultaneously scanning the complete topology of the terrain in 3-D; tracking the position, orientation, and speed of the vehicle; and measuring the wheel forces and torques. This data is simultaneously acquired allowing validation of vehicle and tire models, prediction of terramechanics, tuning of chassis components, and prediction of mobility and durability.
Virtual Proving Grounds
Complete understanding of interactions between vehicle systems and terrain is the founding research goal of the lab. It is critical to study these interactions as part of a system to understand vehicle performance. System analysis includes diverse areas such as prediction of chassis durability and development of durability testing schedules.
To view brief biographies of the VTPL faculty and graduate students, click here.
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