The applicability of ride comfort standards to off-road vehicles

The correlation between objective methods for determining ride comfort and subjective comments from crew driving in vehicles were investigated. For objective measurements, the ISO 2631, BS 6841, Average Absorbed Power and VDI 2057 methods were used. The emphasis was on the ride comfort of military vehicles operated under off-road conditions over typical terrains. An experiment was devised and executed in order to obtain both objective and subjective ride comfort values. The correlation between the different methods, measuring positions, measurement directions and calculation methods was determined. It is concluded that all the methods can be used to specify and evaluate ride comfort, but that acceptable ride comfort limits vary. The vertical measurement direction was dominant. Due to the frequency content of the measured acceleration, the specific weighing curve is not very important for the type of vehicle considered. (C) 2004 ISTVS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.