What is the course about?
Course Summary
In this first part of Vehicle Dynamics, we illuminate the longitudinal dynamic aspects of vehicles.
Clear and brief: acceleration and braking.
In Detail: After an introduction, we will look at driving resistances and slip, explain the demand of power and limits of a car, then clarify the needs for a clutch and gears and look at the rear and front weights during acceleration and braking. The course will be finished by two applications from automotive mechatronics.
What will I learn?
By the end of the course you will …
- understand basic principles of accelerating and braking a car.
- know the driving resistances and their influences on vehicle dynamics.
- understand the discrepancy between demands and limits of powertrain.
- understand the necessity of gears and clutch.
- understand the correlation between braking, wheel load and recovery of energy.
- be able to calculate simple properties of a car.
What do I have to know?
Some basic understanding of the following subjects will help you successfully participate in this course: Algebra; Trigonometric Functions; Differential Calculus; Linear Algebra; Vectors; Coordinate Systems; Force, Torque, Equilibrium; Mass, Center of Gravity, Moment of Inertia; Method of Sections, Friction, Newton's Law, (Lagrange's Equation)
Course structure
This course has a total of 12 chapters, and the topics for each chapter are the following:
Chapter 1: Preliminaries
Chapter 2: Introduction and Rolling Resistance
Chapter 3: Resistances: Grading, Acceleration, Aerodynamic Drag
Chapter 4: Real and ideal characteristic maps
Chapter 5: Approximation of the ideal map: Clutch and transmission
Chapter 6: Driving performance and axle loads
Chapter 7: ABS: Anti-lock Braking System
Chapter 8: ACC
Chapter 9: Homework Solutions Chapters 1 -3
Chapter 10: Homework Solutions Chapter 4 - 5
Chapter 11: Homework Solutions Chapter 6 - 8
Chapter 12: Solution of the exam
Course instructors
Martin Meywerk
Martin Meywerk is a full professor for Automotive Engineering at the Helmut-Schmidt-University in Hamburg since 2002 and dean of the faculty of Mechanical Engineering since 2014. He gives lectures in vehicle dynamics, automotive mechatronics, computer aided engineering (CAE) and optimization. In research his focus is on dynamic behaviour of vehicles and tyres, driving simulators and CAE-methods in automotive engineering. In the past he had research projects with Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler, Bast and other companies. He has published several papers and one book. From 1997 to 2002 he was employed at Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg in research and development where he improved CAE methods, from 2000 to 2002 he was lecturer for engineering mechanics and analytical mechanics at the Technical University Braunschweig (TUBS). He was a research assistant at TUBS from 1990 to 1996, where he wrote his Ph.D.-thesis at the institute of engineering mechanics. From 1985 to 1990 he studied Physics and Mathematics at TUBS supported by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
