Lap time simulation for a Formula Student car
Publicerad
Författare
Typ
Examensarbete på kandidatnivå
Bachelor Thesis
Bachelor Thesis
Program
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Formula Student is a competition where universities all over the world compete
in who can design and build the best Formula-style car. The car is judged based
on design and performance in both static and dynamic events. Simulating the
car’s performance prior to these events is essential in order to build a car that is
competitive. The purpose of this thesis is to build a lap time simulator that satisfies
the needs of Chalmers Formula Student in ways that already existing commercial
simulators can not. The result of this paper is a lap time simulator that has an
easy to use user interface that enables a wide option of different simulations. The
user can simulate all the dynamic events at the same time and also analyze, in
multiple ways, how changes on the car affects the results in these events in both
lap time and subsequent points scored. This report describes the theories behind
the implementation of the simulator as well as the methods used to attain the
result. The initial version of the lap time simulator uses a quasi steady state pointmass
model, as it is a simple, quick to simulate, and simple to develop while still
keeping good accuracy to real world data. A bicycle quasi steady state model was
also developed to increase accuracy at the expense of simulation time. This model
includes front and rear axles and therefore also longitudinal load transfer. As the
simulation time for the bicycle model is about 10 times that of the point-mass,
both are options in the user interface. As the Formula Student competitions include
several dynamic events to test the car’s on-track performance, it is also possible in
the developed lap time simulator to simulate these events, either one by one, or
multiple at once. Simulations featuring parameter sweeps were also developed to
facilitate easy quantification of changes in parameters.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Lap Time Simulator, Simulation, Solver, Chalmers Formula Student, Telemetry visualization, GGV, lap time accuracy, parameter sweep