Comparative research of a motor car motion in the case of the loss of contact with the road surface

Abstract

The paper describes the car motion when the contact between its wheels and the road surface is lost. A simulation of such car motion was carried out using a mathematical package “Maple 6” for the two cases:

1. The car flies off a horizontal surface;
2. The car runs over a springboard.

The dependencies of the main parameters of motion (velocity V_a and distance S) upon the height H of the horizontal road step or upon the springboard height and its inclination angle (in the second case) a were found. The work presents the graphs of these motion parameters and evaluates the influence of air resistance in both cases.

First Published Online: 27 Oct 2010