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Subjective steering feel tuning and objective verification tests are conducted on vehicle prototypes that are a subset of the total number of buildable combinations of body style, drivetrain and tires. Limited development time, high prototype vehicle cost, and hence limited number of available prototypes are factors that affect the ability to tune and verify all the possible configurations. A new model-based process and a toolset have been developed to enhance the existing steering development process such that steering tuning efficiency and performance robustness can be improved. The innovative method utilizes the existing vehicle dynamics simulation and/or physical test data in conjunction with steering system control models, and provides users with simple interfaces which can be used by either CAE or development engineers to perform virtual tuning of the vehicle steering feel to meet performance targets.

One of the key challenges in developing a vehicle for excellent vehicle dynamics is being able to achieve a high level of driving comfort without degrading the steering and handling performance. The part of driving comfort discussed in this paper are tactile vibrations up to f = 100 Hz. This paper describes how Multi-Body Dynamics (MBD) Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools are applied to optimize such vibrations in the early phase of the development process. The approach hereby presented combines system level testing with MBD for the study of ride comfort, similar to the way that system level kinematics and compliance testing is combined with MBD to support steering and handling investigations. Laboratory investigations have been executed to fully characterize a reference suspension with respect to frequency and amplitude behavior. The respective MBD models have been subsequently refined and validated versus physical laboratory measurements.