EVALUATION OF PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS OF A THREE WHEELED MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

The three wheeled motor vehicles are likely to see popularity in their usage due to their benefits in being fuel efficient and relatively inexpensive. The handling, acceleration and braking performance characteristics of three wheeled road vehicles are very important to road safety and accident avoidance capabilities of vehicle rider system. Therefore it is a clear need to study of handling, acceleration and braking performance. The basic problems arise in vehicle handling is the control of the vehicle to a desire path. Various parameters like stiffness of tyre, wind drag, suspension characteristics, caster trail etc. affects the handling behavior of vehicle. The acceleration performance shows the how much time take to desire travelling distance and speed. And while the braking to evaluate the stopping distance. The vehicle model is represented by five masses and includes the effect of suspension, which has not been considered so far. Using ten degree of freedom mathematical model, handling, acceleration and braking performance of three wheeled motor vehicle is analyzed. Under-steer coefficient, travelling, and distance & time are evaluated by means of MATLAB software and also experimentally. The results are presented. Upon making various parametric studies, recommendation are made and conclusion drawn for improving the vehicle handling, acceleration and braking performance