Modeling Ice Friction for Vehicle Dynamics of a Bobsled with Application in Driver Evaluation and Driving Simulation

TL;DR

This paper develops an ice friction model for bobsled vehicle dynamics, integrating experimental data and simulations, to improve driver evaluation and simulation accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel ice friction model specifically for bobsleds, combining experimental, simulation, and sensor data for driver assessment.

Findings

Top drivers use different driving styles with similar performance.

The model enables realistic driver-in-the-loop simulations.

Data from 44 runs supports the friction and dynamics modeling.

Abstract

We provide an ice friction model for vehicle dynamics of a two-man bobsled which can be used for driver evaluation and in a driver-in-the-loop simulator. Longitudinal friction is modeled by combining experimental results with finite element simulations to yield a correlation between contact pressure and friction. To model lateral friction, we collect data from 44 bobsleigh runs using special sensors. Non-linear regression is used to fit a bob-specific one-track vehicle dynamics model to the data. It is applied in driving simulation and enables a novel method for bob driver evaluation. Bob drivers with various levels of experience are investigated. It shows that a similar performance of the top drivers results from different driving styles.