Applying Vehicle Dynamics Analysis and Visualization to Roadway and Roadside Studies

Details

• Creators:
  Allen, R. Wade ; Rosenthal, T. J. ; Chrstos, Jeffery P.
• Corporate Creators:
  Systems Technology, Inc.
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Contracts and Procurement
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Computer Aided Design Highway Engineering Motor Vehicles Roads
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-RD-98-030
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Right Statement:
  Public Domain
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Abstract:
  This report describes the application of vehicle dynamic modeling and visualization to highway safety design within the Interactive Highway Safety Design Model (IHSDM). This concept is intended to allow highway engineers to test roadway designs by computer simulation of vehicle encounters with roadway geometric and to assess roadway alignment and visibility features using three-dimensional (3D) graphical visualization. The procedures are intended to allow running a vehicle through design alternatives, to provide metrics of vehicle performance, and to permit visualization of the vehicle/roadway encounter. This report reviews the overall design concept, the role of the Vehicle Dynamics Module (VDM) in providing performance metrics for a highway design, and the implementation of visualization procedures for viewing vehicle/roadway encounters including roadway features. An existing VDM (VDANL: Vehicle Dynamics Analysis, Nonlinear) was upgraded for this application to permit on- and off-road operation, articulated vehicles, and a generalized roadway design description. A simple interface and driver model was developed for running vehicles over highway designs. Several key performance measures were also developed for assessing the design, and were incorporated into the interface output. Several appendices give detailed technical background on the VDM and vehicle parameter files. Software is provided with this report and an appendix includes a user's guide for the installation and operation of the VDM software. Some 3D graphics modeling and digital editing were carried out on a personal computer (PC) workstation. The emphasis in this project was in implementation of software on PC workstations. The applications were successful, and it is concluded that Intel/Windows NT PC workstations are quite capable of carrying out IHSDMNDM analysis and visualization.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTFH61-93-C-00209
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ba7d5a9b80f7341bb55434ddfc28c670ca331296f7f69f1d2e05e696fced94774c216c8e779eaafcecb85e7a009dfb8dee07bc4a6179eec3903090ac84ca0efb
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/88343/dot_88343_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.93 MB ]