Active Human Body Models for Simulation of Vehicle Dynamics and Ride Comfort

For automotive crash testing, dummies have been deployed successfully ever since. Active movements of the dummy are neither necessary nor technically feasible. In analogy to the hardware dummy, in automotive computer simulation digital versions of the passive dummy are deployed as the state-of-the-art solution. Notwithstanding it would be more appropriate to use active human body models which consider the interaction of the driver and the vehicle.. Taking an active motorcycle rider model as example for an active human body model, we show the benefit of this approach. Today in motorcycle simulation for the analysis of ride stability complex flexible frame elements are taken into account, but the influence of the rider's body on weave or wobble is neglected completely. And this, despite the fact that experienced riders report how they can influence these instable models and how they can recover control of the motorcycle again. After a report of the results from our study, we show how this active human body model approach can be generalized and how it can be usefully deployed in simulation of cars or commercial vehicles.