HANDLING ANALYSIS OF AUTOMOBILES TRAVELING IN JACK-UP ATTITUDE

Handling analysis is performed in this paper to study the steady-state manoeuvres and stability characteristics of automobiles travelling in a tilted attitude of so-called jack-up or wheel-lift with a steady ro ll angle phi and with one side off the ground. The equations of motion are solved considering three degrees of freedom including yaw, roll, and lateral motion. A closed form analytical solution is obtained usin g the linear tyre model. And a nonlinear tyre model is developed and u sed in numerical computation to accommodate large slip and camber angl es. The analytical solution-is found to be close to the numerical resu lts obtained using nonlinear tyre model, and thus can be used convenie ntly for qualitative study. The speed range is also found for road con ditions with various friction coefficients. The derived nonlinear equa tions are linearized about the equilibrium points in order to find eig envalues for studying the steady motion of the vehicle. Two chosen veh icles are compared on their handling characteristics and stability in a parametric study.