STABILITY AND HANDLING BEHAVIOUR OF THREE WHEELED VEHICLE

Abstract

Due to constant depletion of earth's energy resources, automotive transportation will be undergoing vast change in the next few decades. Obviously, the automobile will become smaller and lighter in the search for better fuel efficiency. Regarding road safety and accident avoidance capabilities, lateral dynamic behaviour and handling characteristics of road vehicles are very important. The factors peculiar to three wheeled vehicles such as steering geometry, roll rate distribution, wheel camber properties, stiffness of tyre, wind drag, suspension characteristics etc. affect the stability and handling behaviour of road vehicles. Handling evaluation is one of the most attractive themes in automobile engineering. Suspension and tyre designers want to know how their design parameters contributed to handling characteristics and test drivers want to know where their feelings are derived from. This is because handling characteristics are rather confusing. The present thesis report covers theoretical analysis of suspension system and road test for analysis of handling behaviour of a three wheeled vehicle. A set of programs has been written for validation of theoretical analysis of suspension system of three wheeled vehicle. An experimental setup has been fabricated to perform the road test for evaluation of handling behaviour of Bajaj-RE three wheeled vehicle.