Road surface profile synthesis: assessment of suitabilityfor simulation

Abstract

Vibration analysis plays an essential role to enhance the design of the vehicle, relatedto its comfort and safety level. It is useful to determine the relations between the road profile orits characteristics to the particular properties of vehicles and evaluate the dynamic response tothe applied road profile. During the design stage, the simulation of vehicle suspension requiresan input of road surface for the initial dynamic load. Therefore, an artificial road profile, createdaccording to a specific methodology, is a key to overall research success. It is possible to generate anartificial road profile using several mathematical methods. This paper is dedicated to analyzing andcomparing the usability and ISO-compatibility of three methods: White noise filtration, sinusoidalapproximation, and moving average of white noise. Furthermore, we modified the sinusoidalapproximation, additionally using a windowing function, thus removing sharp jumps in a generatedroad profile. Each analyzed method has its advantages and disadvantages, therefore, proper choicein profile generation was a goal of the provided analysis. We defined that the moving average ofwhite noise filtration method has the highest implementation perspectives due to the best complianceto the desired ISO-defined road profile shape and independence from simulation velocity.