Theoretical Prediction and Experimental Substantiation of the Response of the Automobile to Steering Control

Classical mechanics is applied to the automobile in order to study the lateral rigid-body motions produced by steering control. This research in the field of automotive lateral dynamics has included (1) the development of a mathematical model for a pneumatic-tyred vehicle and (2) its subsequent substantiation by means of full-scale response tests made with an instrumented vehicle. A review of the theoretical work is presented together with a description of the methods used to measure the response of the test car. The resulting agreement between theory and experiment is examined, and is followed by an extensive discussion of the nature of the lateral response of the automobile to steering control.