Three-dimensional dynamic model for off-road vehicles using discrete body dynamics.

• The paper presents a reliable dynamics model of off-road vehicle operation in RT. • The numerical model was formulated by a new method – DBD (Discrete Body Dynamics). • The proposed method was demonstrated using an ATV vehicle. • DBD is faster than Multi-Body Dynamics programs. This paper presents a simple, reliable dynamics model of off-road vehicle operation in real-time (RT) on terrain with obstacles. The numerical model was formulated by a new method – DBD (Discrete Body Dynamics). The new method is based on a discrete-element method, where the equations of motion are linear and simple to solve. In this new method, the suspension systems are composed of soft and stiff springs and dampers (instead of suspension arms and joints constrains), to present the kinematics and dynamics of real suspension. Reduction of the number of bodies and avoidance of constraints significantly improves model efficiency and simplicity. The tires–soil interaction was modeled using Brixius prediction. Specific soil properties were obtained from the classification system for each tire–soil interaction, size, and geometric area. The tire–ground contact was determined by topographic surface and adjustment of the forces and direction acting on the tires. The proposed method allows quick and simple definition of a vehicle. The model is written as an independent software infrastructure, enabling easy integration with any other software component. Simulation results were compared with Siemens' VL commercial multibody dynamics program. The performance of the proposed method was very similar to the commercial program (R2 > 0.9), with the significant advantage of much higher RT performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]