Video: Utilizing Vehicle Dynamic Testing For Design
This is a video lecture available for free: https://www.sae.org/news/video/content/12471/
The lecture was delivered at COMVEC 2019.
Siddarth 'Sid' Attravanam is an SAE Industrial Lecturer.
An SAE Collegiate Chapter may request any lecturer to present on campus, at no cost to the chapter or school. Instructions and lecturers are found here:
https://www.sae.org/participate/membership/collegiate-chapters/industrial-lecture-program?tab=2
Abstract: For many Formula SAE teams, vehicle testing ends up as an afterthought. In the testing that does happen, the idea of whether the car is driveable or controllable is usually lost in the myriad of reliability testing. So while reliability is critical, the vehicle also has to be designed to be operable by a human driver. Similar to how factors of safety are design goals for reliability, handling goals can also be design goals. This presentation will cover fundamentals of vehicle handling related to human perception, simple testing procedures such as skidpad and slalom, and use of data from vehicle testing and tire testing to tune handling of the current car and set design goals for future cars. The presentation will also cover some simple simulation tools that can be used to quickly evaluate high level handling design goals. Finally, the presentation will address using a 'systems engineering process' to plan vehicle design.
Siddarth 'Sid' Attravanam is a research engineer with Cooper Tire & Rubber Company in the field of vehicle dynamics. His primary area of research is in understanding the links between human perception of driving and objective measurements of vehicle and tire dynamics. As part of this, he has led the development of new objective and subjective vehicle testing methods. Sid has also co-developed and teaches a training program for Cooper that teaches engineers the basics of vehicle/tire dynamics along with subjective evaluation.
Outside of Cooper, Sid is a technical scrutineer with the FIA at the World Endurance Championship race at the Circuit of The Americas, Austin, TX. Sid is also active with the Formula SAE community, having worked with Cooper to re-enter the Formula SAE competition as a sponsor, and through the Tire Test Consortium. In addition, Sid is also a design judge specializing in Suspension/Tires at Formula SAE competitions.
Sid holds a MSc in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, with a thesis on Tire Operating Conditions, and a BSc(honors) degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). While at UTA, Sid was part for the Formula SAE team, where he was the suspension lead for two years.