Characterization with Real-world Vehicle Maneuvers
Characterize vehicle-level driving behavior with only a subsystem of parts and pre-recorded road load data or digital road environment.
Characterizing vehicle-level driving behavior using only an axle-suspension subsystem allows engineers to evaluate handling, stability, and load transfer earlier and more efficiently than full-vehicle testing. By combining physical hardware with pre-recorded road load data or digital road environments, OEMs, suppliers, and research institutions can study real-world maneuvers without waiting for complete vehicle prototypes. This approach accelerates development, improves model fidelity, reduces cost and risk, and supports informed design decisions well before proving-ground validation.
Test Methods
Axle-suspension hybrid simulation characterizes vehicle-level behavior by combining a physical subsystem under test with real-time numerical vehicle models and pre-recorded or synthetic road inputs. Measured forces, displacements, and moments from the axle hardware are exchanged continuously with the virtual environment, allowing realistic reproduction of maneuvers such as cornering, braking, lane changes, and combined load events. Controlled multi-axis actuation applies vertical, lateral, and longitudinal loads consistent with road data, while digital models represent the remaining vehicle mass, inertia, and control systems. This mechanical hardware-in-the-loop approach enables repeatable evaluation of kinematics, compliance, load transfer, and transient response under realistic driving scenarios. SAE-aligned hybrid simulation practices define requirements for synchronization, stability, latency management, and correlation, ensuring credible representation of real-world vehicle behavior in a laboratory setting.
Test Results
Hybrid simulation results provide insight into axle contribution to handling balance, stability, and transient response during real-world maneuvers. Manufacturers, test labs, and researchers use this data to validate CAE models, refine suspension tuning, evaluate design variants, and reduce dependence on late-stage vehicle prototypes and proving-ground testing.
MTS Product Solutions
MTS hybrid simulation solutions enable mechanical hardware-in-the-loop testing that links physical axle-suspension subsystems with real-time digital vehicle environments. Dedicated fixtures, kinematic and compliance systems, and handling roadways support accurate force and motion reproduction, while advanced control ensures stable, synchronized interaction between hardware and simulation. This portfolio allows engineers to characterize vehicle-level behavior earlier, faster, and more safely than traditional development methods, reducing cost and accelerating validation.
Test Methods
Axle-suspension hybrid simulation characterizes vehicle-level behavior by combining a physical subsystem under test with real-time numerical vehicle models and pre-recorded or synthetic road inputs. Measured forces, displacements, and moments from the axle hardware are exchanged continuously with the virtual environment, allowing realistic reproduction of maneuvers such as cornering, braking, lane changes, and combined load events. Controlled multi-axis actuation applies vertical, lateral, and longitudinal loads consistent with road data, while digital models represent the remaining vehicle mass, inertia, and control systems. This mechanical hardware-in-the-loop approach enables repeatable evaluation of kinematics, compliance, load transfer, and transient response under realistic driving scenarios. SAE-aligned hybrid simulation practices define requirements for synchronization, stability, latency management, and correlation, ensuring credible representation of real-world vehicle behavior in a laboratory setting.
Test Results
Hybrid simulation results provide insight into axle contribution to handling balance, stability, and transient response during real-world maneuvers. Manufacturers, test labs, and researchers use this data to validate CAE models, refine suspension tuning, evaluate design variants, and reduce dependence on late-stage vehicle prototypes and proving-ground testing.
MTS Product Solutions
MTS hybrid simulation solutions enable mechanical hardware-in-the-loop testing that links physical axle-suspension subsystems with real-time digital vehicle environments. Dedicated fixtures, kinematic and compliance systems, and handling roadways support accurate force and motion reproduction, while advanced control ensures stable, synchronized interaction between hardware and simulation. This portfolio allows engineers to characterize vehicle-level behavior earlier, faster, and more safely than traditional development methods, reducing cost and accelerating validation.
- MTS Hybrid Simulation Solutions (mHIL) integrate physical axle-suspension hardware with real-time numerical vehicle models. Mechanical hardware-in-the-loop techniques enable realistic evaluation of vehicle maneuvers using recorded road loads or digital environments, accelerating development and improving model fidelity.
- Axle Carrier Fixtures (ACF) securely mount axle-suspension subsystems for controlled multi-axis loading. It enables realistic application of forces and moments during hybrid simulation, supporting accurate characterization of axle behavior under vehicle-level driving maneuvers.
- Kinematic & Compliance (K&C) Deflection Measurement Systems quantify axle kinematics and compliance under static and quasi-static loads. When used within hybrid simulation, they provide high-resolution displacement data that enhances correlation between physical hardware and virtual vehicle models.
- Dynamic Kinematic & Compliance (K&C) Systems apply time-varying loads to capture frequency-dependent axle behavior, hysteresis, and transient response. These capabilities support hybrid simulation of real-world maneuvers where dynamic load transfer and suspension motion are critical.
- Flat-Trac® Handling Roadways reproduce tire-coupled lateral and combined-load maneuvers in a controlled laboratory environment. Within hybrid simulation, it enables realistic cornering and handling inputs while maintaining repeatability and safety.
- FlexTest® Controllers provide the real-time, high-bandwidth control required for stable mechanical hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Their deterministic performance ensures accurate force feedback, synchronization, and safe operation during complex vehicle maneuver characterization.
