Using Simulators for the Assessment of Handling of Motorcycles

Currently only a few motorcycle simulators exist, few or none of which are used during the development of real vehicles. Indeed, most of the existing simulators can some-how reproduce the behavior of a ‘typical’ motorcycle, as opposed to a ‘specific’ motorcycle or configuration. In this work the motorcycle simulator of the University of Padova is employed to assess its possible usage in the development phase of real vehicles. The ultimate objective is using the simulator to evaluate the handling of a specific motorcycle in a specific configuration. Lab tests, numerical simulations, road tests with onboard telemetry, and simulator tests have been employed during this research. The same riders that rode the real motorcycle on the real track tested the virtual motorcycle on the (same) virtual track using the simulator. Different setups were considered, both on the track and on the simulator, including different front frame properties, front wheel inertial properties, tires, lower surface friction (wet track), steering damper settings, as well as frame structural stiffness.