Co-simulation and simulation integration for a full vehicle dynamic system

The electric power steering (EPS) mechanism ensures improved vehicle safety and fuel economy. The development of a concurrent simulation technique and a simulation integration technique for analysing an EPS control system with a dynamic vehicle system is described in this paper. A full vehicle model interacting with an EPS control algorithm was concurrently simulated on a single-bump road condition. The dynamic responses of the vehicle chassis and the steering system resulting from impact with the road surface were evaluated and compared with experimental data obtained at the proving ground. Reasonable agreement was obtained for tie-rod load, rack displacement, steering wheel torque, and tyre centre acceleration. The concurrent simulation capability was employed for EPS performance evaluation and calibration as well as for vehicle-handling performance integration and synthesis.