Strain and acceleration measurement and

analysis for vehicle seat response

reconstruction
Dr. Michiel Heyns Pr.Eng.
T: +27 12 664-7604
C: +27 82 445-0510
mheyns@investmech.com

Introduction
Objective:
To reduce weighted root-mean-square seat response of
the driver and crew seats to specified limit:
Limited time - only 1 month
Limited resources only four measurement opportunities on the
Gerotek test track
Could only change damping of the vehicle suspension only 3
days for this phase

Needed an approach using

Analytical modelling optimize damper characteristics
Experimental response measurements
Laboratory testing and seat characteristic refinement

Method

Best damping

Seat weighted
RMS

Non-linear time and state dependant transient equations solve by fixed step Fourth Order RungeKutta
Response simulation with pseudo-random theoretical road profile
Measure vehicle responses
System ID and road profile reconstruction
Verify road profile accuracy by calculating responses and compare
Damping factor sensitivity analysis optimal damping factor
Verify on the test track

Select test track

Seat and seat mount response measurements
Test rig assembly
Reconstruct seat mount vibration in the laboratory
Iterative testing and seat modification to obtain required seat Weighted RMS

Vehicle layout
The position of the
centre of gravity was
determined as follows:
1. Horizontally from
weights measured at
rear and front wheels
2. Vertically estimated
from relative weight
and CoGs of the
components
Effect of modifications on
CoG determined in the
same way

Tyre model
1.1

Used stiffness and damping

coefficient
10% damping factor was
assumed
Measured data was used
Linear stiffness coefficient
and linear damping
coefficient was assumed
Effect of stiction during
characterization was
assumed negligible

1.05

Spring stiffness (MN/m)

1
0.95

350 kPa 30 kN load

350 kPa 40 kN load
600 kPa 30 kN load
600 kPa 40 kN load

No data at 2
0.9
0.85
This bump occurs
at both pressures
and 40 kN load

0.8
0.75
0.7

1.5

2.5
3
3.5
Displacement (mm)

4.5

Note, in this case tyre

stiffness >> suspension
stiffness
5

Non-linear time and state dependant

modelling

= 2 4 + 1 3
= , ,

= 2 1 + 4 2 1 1 3 2
= , ,
= 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 =

Axle mathematical model

4

2 2

2 1

3 = 3 3 + 3 3

4 = 4 4 + 4 4
3 = 2 3

4 = 2 + 4

Force[N]

Force vs. velocity

18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0

Tension
Compression

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

= 4 2 3 2 +2 2 = , ,Velocity [m/s]

= 3 + 4 =

1.2

Damper model
Rebound/Compression force ratio = typically 1 to 3
R/C ration = 1 typical for off-road
R/C ration = 3 typical for sport sedan vehicles
15030
6450

= 2.33

Force vs. velocity

18000
16000
14000
Force[N]

In this case

12000
10000
8000

Tension

6000

Compression

4000
2000
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

Velocity [m/s]

Reference damping factor

Use average of compression and rebound
Damping factor for the reference vehicle = 0.27
18500

2 360000

= 0.27

Question: What is a typical damping factor for offroad vehicles?

Answer:
Trade-off between ride comfort, road holding and
road handling, you must compromise, cannot have
all
Low value at High Speed and High value at Low
speed
Need more as road roughness increase
Race cars need good handling: = 0.65 0.75
Passenger cars maximized for ride comfort:
0.25

13300
4
12

=
=
=
=

10

0.05
0.25
0.60
0.80

Transmissibility

0.5

1.5
Frequency ratio

2.5

Strain gauges & accelerometers

Strain gauges to
measure suspension
force

Instrumentation to record
acceleration input and
response of crew seat
10

Hardware used
Data Logger:
Description: Somat eDaq-Lite
Sampling frequency = 2,000 Hz
Anti-aliasing:
Linear Phase
Cut-off frequency = 667 Hz
Output data type: 32 Bit Float

13

ARX modelling
ARX = AutoRegresive model with eXternal input
Part of PCMatlab System Identification toolbox
Model Characterization: th=arx([Response Input],NN)
Mathematics: + 1 1 + 2 2 + +
= 1 + 2 1 + + + 1 +
()
The function solves the & coefficients
() is external noise

Simulation: Response=idsim(Input,th)

14

MIMO-System ID with random road

profile
ARX forward system identification was used: th= arx([y_temp u_id],NN);
Check accuracy by reconstructing acceleration responses used: y_id=idsim(u_id,th);
The mode order was , , = 1,1,0
Reverse-inverse ARX model to reconstruct road input
Correlation coefficient = 0.87
Reconstructed road input
0.02
Blue - from transient analysis
Red - reconstructed

Correlation coefficient = 0.87

0.01
Reconstructed road input
0.02

Blue - from transient analysis

Red - reconstructed
0.01

-0.01

Displacement [m]

Displacement [m]

-0.02

-0.01

-0.02

-0.03

-0.03

-0.04

-0.04

Only a slight shift in mean of

signal required to give good
perception of fit

0.5

8080

8060

8100

8120

1.5
Point

8140
Point

8180

8160

8200

8220

2.5
4

x 10

15

Road profile reconstructed from

recorded accelerations
Calculated road profile () Measured

Measured acceleration used to calculate road profiles: y_idRIm=idsim(u_idRIm,thRI);

The function does not use time step or sampling frequency time step in reconstructed
data = time step of response data used, 200 Hz in this case
Reconstructed road input from measured accelerations

Reconstructed road input from measured accelerations

0.06

0.15

0.1

0.04

0.05

Displacement [m]

Displacement [m]

0.02

-0.05

-0.02
-0.1
-0.04

-0.06

-0.15

3
Point

-0.2
0
6

x 10

3
Point

16

x 10

Simulations to Weighted RMS

Use road profile to calculate responses
ISO 2631 running weighted RMS
Repeat for damping magnification factor varied
from 0.2 to 2.4 in steps of 0.2
That is the compression and rebound damper
characteristics were multiplied with this factor
This will indicate in which direction to adjust the
dampers
Tips that enabled 55 simulations of 120s each in 15 hour span on ONE Dell Notebook Computer:
Read data into memory and limit disk operations to the minimum
Ensure that all computer threads are used split algorithms if necessary
Declare result matrix sizes before starting the simulation
Limit array values used in interpolations to find instantaneous road profile displacement
and velocity
17

Damping factor sensitivity

Results indicated an increase
of 60% (factor 1.6) on
damping factor
Damping factor was changed
to 1.6 x 0.27 = 0.43 (43%)

Max. wrms for Road 2

5
4.8

Objective function

4.6
4.4
4.2

Response optimal point

4
3.8
3.6
3.4

0.5

1
1.5
Damper modification factor

2.5

18

Test rig

Designed to give
mounting points exactly
as in the vehicle

No natural modes in the operating

frequency range

40 kN servo-hydraulic
actuator excites the
super structure
19

Objective reconstruct measured seat

frame acceleration
Acceleration in the Time domain
10

Acceleration [m/s 2]

-2

-4

-6

-8

-10

Instrumentation to verify
drive signal

20

40

60
Time [s]

80

100

120

This is the measured acceleration, that

is also the desired response of the seat
frame on the servo-hydraulic actuator

20

Why High-pass filter Sine wave?

Sine wave

Sine wave
2

0.7

1.5

0.6

-0.5
-1

0.3
0.2
0.1

-1.5

-2

-0.1

5
Time [s]

10

Note the non-zero mean

0

0.6

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1

5
Time [s]

5
Time [s]

10

2.5

Non-zero
mean causes
the trend

1.5

Solution: High-pass
filter signals

0.5

-0.1

Sine wave
3.5

Sine wave

0.7

0.5

Velocity [m/s]

0.4

Displacement [m]

Acceleration [m/s]

0.5

0.5

Velocity [m/s]

2
= 0.318

10

0
0

5
Times [s]

10

Servo-hydraulic actuator in displacement control = =0 =0

21

High-pass filter effect on random

signals
Random wave

UNFILTERED

FILTERED

4
3

Random wave

0.15

Velocity [m/s]

0.05

-0.05

1
0

0.02

-1
-2

-0.1

d1x = filtfilt(B,A,(cumtrapz(t,d2x)));

0.03

Velocity [m/s]

Acceleration [m/s]

d1x = cumtrapz(t,d2x);

0.1

Random wave - High-pass filtered

0.04

0.01
0
-0.01

-3
-0.02

-0.15

-4
0

5
Time [s]

10

Random wave
0.1

5
Time [s]

-0.03

10

-0.04

Fs=200;
HPFCutoff=1;
[B,A]=butter(8,HPFCutoff/(Fs/2),'high');

-3

x=cumtrapz(t,d1x);

2.5

It is essential to remove the

low-frequency drifts from the
integrated signals

-0.2
-0.3
-0.4

5
Time [s]

10

x=filtfilt(B,A,cumtrapz(t,d1x));

1.5
1
0.5
0
-0.5
-1

-0.5

-1.5

-0.6

-2
-0.7

Random wave - High-pass filtered

x 10

-0.1

Displacement [m]

Displacement [m]

-0.2

5
Times [s]

10

-2.5

22
0

5
Times [s]

10

Test rig drive signal

Test rig (DAC Hydraulics Servo-valve Inertias AAF ADC):
Non-linear frequency dependant responses
Natural frequencies
Inertia in the oil supply system, etc.
Therefore,
Solution:
Compensate in the time or frequency domains
In this case, frequency domain is sufficient
FREQUENCY SPECTRUM FOR MEASURED ACC. SIGNAL VS. COMPENSATED ACC. SIGNAL

Spectrum of recorded acceleration

Blue - Measured Acc.

Red - Compensated Acc.

Dsplacement in the Time domain

0.05

0.9

0.9

0.04

0.03

Displacement [m]

0.7

Measured Acc. Spectrum RMS = 2.04

Compensated Acc. Spectrum RMS = 2.65

0.8

0.02

0.8

0.01

Drive signal

0.7

-0.01

Dsplacement in the Time domain

0.08

-0.03

0.6
-0.04

-0.05

20

40

100

80

60

140

120

Time [s]

0.5

Measured
acceleration spectrum
= Desired response

0.4

0.3

0.2

Red - Compensated Displacement

Blue - Recorded Displacement

0.6

0.06

0.04

0.5
0.02

Displacement [m]

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

-0.02

Measured Acc. Spectrum RMS = 2.04

0.4

-0.02

0.3
-0.04

-0.06

0.2

-0.08

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Time [s]

0.1

0.1

10

15

20

25
30
Frequency [Hz]

35

40

45

50

10

15

20

25
30
Frequency [Hz]

35

40

45

23

50

How was this done

=

Acceleration in the Time domain

15
Blue - Recorded Acc.
Red - Compensated Acc.

Measure rig Response

()
()

+1 = ( )
Iterate until:

()
()

Acceleration [m/s 2]

10

-5

-10

90%

-15

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Time [s]

The result is an acceleration

drive signal adjusted for the rig
frequency response

24

Reconstructed frame response

FREQUENCY SPECTRUM RMS OF THE MARLIN VS. RIG
Blue - Marlin
Measured RMS = 2.04
Red - Rig
Rig RMS = 2.05

X: 2.197
Y: 0.7608

0.7

Marlin Spectrum RMS = 2.04

Rig Spectrum RMS = 2.05

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

0.6

0.5

X: 6.348
Y: 0.4391

0.4

The objective is to have

accurate reconstruction of
the dominant peaks in the
spectrum

0.3

0.2

Motion sickness: 0.1 0.5 Hz

Health, comfort, perception: 0.5 Hz 80 Hz

0.1

0
0

10
Frequency [Hz]

15

20

25

Driver Seat

Spectrum of Driver Seat Response acceleration

Spectrum of Driver Seat Input

Spectrum RMS = 1.54

0.6

0.6
X: 1.587
Y: 0.5959

32 km/h Rally Track Full

Load

0.5

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.4

X: 1.709
Y: 0.3531

Spectrum RMS = 1.88

0.3

0.2

Paramount Run3: 32km/h Rally track (Full L)

Blue - Seat Input
Red - Seat Response

12
10

0.1

Acceleration [m/s 2]

8
6

0.1

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

25

30

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

Transmissibility function driver seat responce/vehicle

3

2
0

2.5

-2
-4

2
FRF Amplitude

-6
-8
250

250.5

251

251.5

252

252.5
Time [s]

253

253.5

254

254.5

This seat filters high

frequency content

1.5

0.5

Effect of damping on magnitude at resonance

6

= 0.1
= 0.3

Transmissibility magnitude

X: 0.991
Y: 5.123

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

25

30

Transmissibility more than 1 at f < 6 Hz

Seat resonates
Solution: Increase damping

3
X: 0.929
Y: 1.995

2
X: 1.414
Y: 1

0.5

1.5
Frequency ratio

2.5

25

30

Crew Seat

Spectrum of Crew Seat Response acceleration

32 km/h Rally Track Full

Load

0.45

0.4

0.4

Blue - Seat Input

Red - Seat Response

0.3
0.25

0.15

Spectrum RMS = 0.97

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15

0.1

0.1

0.05

0.05

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

25

30

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

Transmissibility function crew seat responce/vehicle

0

1.1
-2

-4

0.9

-6

0.8

250

250.5

251

251.5

252

252.5 253
Time [s]

253.5

254

254.5

255

FRF Amplitude

Acceleration [m/s 2]

X: 1.343
Y: 0.2884

0.2

0
4

Spectrum of Crew Seat Input

X: 1.465
Y: 0.4281

0.35
Spectrum RMS = 0.90

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

Amplitude [m/s 2-RMS]

0.35

Paramount Run3: 32km/h Rally track (Full Load)

0.45

0.7
0.6
0.5

Note how this seat

acceleration follows that
of the vehicle body over
the frequency spectrum
of the time signal

0.4
0.3
0.2
0

10

15
Frequency [Hz]

20

25

Seat response is in phase with vehicle

Seat is stiff due to mounting straps
Solution: Replace straps with elastic material

25

30

Final remarks
Servo-hydraulic test rig now used to minimise
transmissibility to the seat
Adding elasticity to isolate
Seat layout design changes

This process major contribution

Enable quick (3 Days) for damper selection for minimum
seat weighted RMS response
Test rig that enables continuous, cheap, repeatable,
reliable reconstruction of vehicle responses at the seat
mounts
Laboratory verification of seat designs to meet client
objectives
28