An instrumented vehicle for offroad dynamics testing

► The first experimental setup to measure off-road dynamics in an open-loop mode. ► A steering robot for performing tests with a high level of repeatability. ► The capability proved by sample results from chosen research projects. The paper presents an instrumented vehicle that was equipped with measuring systems to perform complete dynamics tests, especially in off-road conditions. The equipment consists of four wheel dynamometers, a steering robot, and a differential GPS system together with an inertial platform, a non-contact vehicle speed sensor, and an on-board computer with software to control the devices and collect experimental data. The four wheel dynamometers measure six elements; based on strain gage force transducers, it measures three orthogonal forces and three moments. The steering robot can control the steering wheel of the vehicle at a variety of excitation modes; it can carry out typical vehicle dynamics tests (ISO 7401, ISO 4138, ISO/TR3888, etc.) as well as custom engineered tests at a wide range of setting parameters (steer angle rate up to 1600 deg/s). The differential GPS system gives true time vehicle kinematics data (velocities, accelerations, angles, etc.) at 10-ns sample rate and 20-mm accuracy. The base vehicle, a Suzuki Vitara 4 × 4, required no special modifications or changes to install the measuring equipment. The paper also describes typical tests performed with the use of the instrumented vehicle together with sample results.