Example of Experimental Validation and Calibration of a Finite Element Model of a Heavy Vehicle

An example of the experimental validation of a finite element model of a selected heavy vehicle is presented in the paper. A truck tractor with a three a xle single drop low boy trailer and the total weight of 20 t ons was selected as a representative for the tests. The major goal of the conducted studies w as to develop a well validated the numerical model of a heavy vehicle applicable for computer simulation of dynamic interaction between a vehicle and a bridge or road structure. Therefore, only sever al components of the ve hicle, affecting the vehicle-road interaction, like wheels and the suspension systems, were modelled in detail. The rest of components were simplified and considered as rigid bodies. The finite element model included fully pneumatic tires and the suspension system modelled with discrete massless springs and dampers. Numerical analyzes were performed using the LS-DYNA computer code. The validation and calibration procedure proposed in the current paper was carried out in two steps. In the first one, some parameters such as material densities, thickness of selected elements, were modified to achieve the correct mass distribution in the model based on the measured axle loads. In the next step the stiffness and dampi ng parameters of the suspension system were evaluated base d on the res ults of the experiment al tests. The spri ng and damping coefficients at all axles were adjusted until the performance of the FE model closely matched t hat of the actual vehicle.