Modeling of the Powertrain System and the Vehicle Body for the Analysis of the Driving Comfortability

Actual and strict definition of the shift quality for the powertrain system equipped an automatic transmission must be understood through the acceleration change of the vehicle body, which the driver directly feels as a shift shock. For this reason, it is necessary to concurrently analyze the characteristics of the powertrain system and the vehicle body. This paper presents the mathematical model of the vehicle body, which is based on the equivalent lumped system, to append to the developed model of the powertrain system. The concept of tire slip is also introduced for the experimental relationship between tire/road and driving force. Using the developed dynamic simulation programs, shift transients characteristics are analyzed. Theoretical results are compared with experimental ones from real car tests in equal conditions in order to prove the validity of presented model. In these tests, the system to measure the vehicle acceleration is used with various speeds and engine throttle sensors. It is expected that the presented modeling techniques can provide good predictions of the vehicle driving comfortability.