Key Words: FSAE Racing Car; Virtual Prototyping Technology; Race Track; Suspension

Optimization

The paper belongs to Virtual Design, Testing and Validation.

Research Objective: To build the virtual prototyping model of FSAE racing car and race track
based on virtual prototyping technology(VPT). Based on these, the problem that the
developing period is not long enough to conduct the sample prototype test can be solved by
the performance prediction and optimization by VPT.

Methodology: By multi-body dynamics simulation software ADAMS, the virtual prototyping of a
certain FSAE racing car was built which took the aerodynamic characteristics into
consideration. During the process of modeling, the non-linear factors such as damper and tire
are also took into consideration. Moreover, the model of race track was built by
ADAMS/Chassis, as well the driver-vehicle-road closed-loop model based on the PID control
driver The correctness of the virtual prototyping was verified by comparison with the data
collected by the data logger. By the analysis of the roll angle, camber angle and the lateral
cohesive force at the high speed turning, the optimization of suspension was performed. The
verification of the optimization effect was carried out by the comparison of the lap time.

Results: The comparison between the simulation results and the actual data collected by the
data logger shows that the virtual prototyping model which took aerodynamic characteristics
into consideration has a high accuracy. Moreover, the comparison between the simulation
result before and after optimization shows that the optimization of suspension has a great
influence on the improvement of lap time.

Limitations of this study: In this paper, the establishment of closed-loop model adopts the PID
control driver which has limitations to accurately express the behavior of the driver. The
embedding of more accurate diver model is the next focus in future work.

What does the paper offer that is new in the field in comparison to other works of the author: In
previous paper of mine, the virtual prototyping of racing car didnt take the aerodynamic
characteristics into consideration. Moreover, the analysis of the roll angle, camber angle at
high speed turning by VPT is conducted for the first time in order to perform the optimization of
the suspension.

Conclusions: The dynamics simulation of the racing car based on VPT has a great accuracy.
By this method, the prediction and optimization of the performance can be carried out before
the manufacture of the racing car which can significantly shorten the developing period of the
racing car.