Module 2

Mechanics of Motor Vehicle

Power for Propulsion
This force of the propulsion unit helps the vehicle to overcome the resisting forces due to
gravity, air and tire resistance.
The acceleration of the vehicle depends on:
• the power delivered by the propulsion unit
• the road conditions
• the aerodynamics of the vehicle
• the composite mass of the vehicle
When the vehicle moves, it encounters a resistive force that tries to retard its motion. The
resistive forces are
• Rolling resistance
• Aerodynamic drag (Air/wind resistance)
• Uphill/grade resistance
 

 
 
Using the Newton's second law of
motion, the vehicle acceleration can
be expressed as

– vehicle speed
- Total traction effort in N
- Total resistance in N
– Total mass of the vehicle
– Mass factor for converting the
rotational inertias of rotating
components into translational mass
Rolling Resistance
• Rolling resistance force is a result of
the hysteresis of the tire at the contact
patch as it rolls along the roadway.
• The hysteresis causes an asymmetric
distribution of ground reaction forces.
• To keep the wheel rolling, a force F,
acting on the center of the wheels, is
required to balance the rolling
resistant moment. This force is
expressed as

- rolling resistance coefficient Tire deflection and rolling resistance on a (a) hard and (b) soft
- dynamic radius of the tyre road surface
The rolling resistance coefficient is a function of
• tire material
• tire structure
• tire temperature
• tire inflation pressure
• tread geometry
• road roughness
• road material
• presence of absence of liquids on the road
Aerodynamic Drag (Air/Wind Resistance)
• A vehicle traveling at a particular speed in air encounters a force resisting its motion. This
force is referred to as aerodynamic drag.
• It mainly results from two components: shape drag and skin friction.

Aerodynamic drag is expressed as

- aerodynamic drag coefficient

- vehicle frontal area
- component of wind speed on the vehicle’s moving direction
Grading Resistance
• When a vehicle goes up or down a
slope, its weight produces a
component, which is always
directed to the downward
direction.
• The grading resistance is
expressed as

• Grade,
• The force available at the contact between the drive wheel tyres and road is known as
‘tractive effort’
• The ability of the drive wheels to transmit this effort without slipping is known as
‘traction’.
Example
• On a 20°C sunny day with no wind speed, and an air density of 1.2, a 1500 kg vehicle
travels along an asphalt roadway with a 6° grade at 100 km/h and a rolling resistance
coefficient of 0.013. The vehicle center of gravity is located 0.6 m from the ground in the
center of the 2.5 m wheelbase with 0.66 m wheels and has a frontal area of 2.05 and a
drag coefficient of 0.32. Calculate the aerodynamic, grading, and rolling resistance.
Maximum Tractive Effort
The dynamic equation of vehicle motion along the longitudinal direction is expressed by

Front Wheel Drive

Normal load on the front axle is determined by

For
1st term - static load on the front and rear axle when the vehicle is at rest on level ground
2nd term - dynamic component of the normal load

After rearranging,
Rear Wheel Drive
Normal load on the rear axle is determined as

For

After rearranging,
 Effect of different drives = Weight of the vehicle
= Height of C.G. from the road
surface
and =total normal reactions at
the front and rear axles
respectively.
C.G. 𝑊 = Wheel base
.𝑎 & = Maximum tractive force on
𝑔
front and rear wheels
h 𝑊 = coefficient of adhesion between
the tyres and the road surface
𝐹 𝑓 =𝜇 𝑅 𝑓 𝐹 𝑅 = Distance of line of action
𝑙
𝑏 weight or C.G. from the rear axle.
𝑅𝑓 𝑅𝑟 = maximum forward
acceleration.
 Front wheel drive
 From, we get,

 The maximum tractive force,

 From, we get,

 A maximum forward acceleration

and an inertia force opposite to a  From, we get,
produced because of .

 Substituting the value of , we get

or

Since,
Hence,
So, by substituting the value of
in , we get,
Rear wheel drive

 In this case the tractive force is acting

on rear wheels only.  From, we get,

 The maximum tractive force,

 Substituting the value of , we get

 For dynamic equilibrium,

 From above equations we get,

Since,

So, by substituting the value of in , we get,

Hence,
Four-wheel drive

 With four wheel drive the tractive effort acts on

both front and rear wheels.  Algebraic sum of the horizontal
forces i.e.,
 Suppose the limiting friction occurs at all the
four wheels simultaneously, therefore, the
maximum tractive effort is given by:

For dynamic equilibrium,

 Algebraic sum of the vertical forces i.e.,

Tractive Effort and Vehicle Speed
The torque on the driven wheels,
transmitted from the engine is given
by

- gear ratio of the transmission

(input rotating speed/output rotating
speed)
- gear ratio of the final drive
- efficiency of the driveline from the
engine to the driven wheels
- torque output from the engine
The tractive effort on the driven wheels

Mechanical efficiency of various components

Clutch: 99%
Each pair of gears: 95–97%
Bearing and joint: 98–99%

What is total mechanical efficiency of the transmission between the engine output shaft
and drive wheels?
The rotating speed (rpm) of the driven wheel can be expressed as

- output rotating speed (rpm)

Vehicle speed (m/s),
Vehicle Performance
The performance
of a vehicle is
usually described
by its
• maximum
cruising speed,
• gradeability, and
• acceleration

Tractive effort of a gasoline engine-powered vehicle with multispeed transmission and its resistance
Tractive effort of an electric motor-powered vehicle with single-speed
transmission and its resistance
Maximum Speed of a Vehicle
It is determined by the equilibrium between the tractive effort of the vehicle and the
resistance or the maximum speed of the engine and gear ratios of the transmission.

The tractive effort and resistance equilibrium can be expressed as

Note - The intersection of the tractive effort curve and the resistance curve represents the
maximum speed of the vehicle
Gradeability
It is defined as the maximum gradient on which a vehicle starts climbing from stand-still
with all the wheels of the vehicle on the gradient at the time of start.
For equilibrium,
Example
After some engine and transmission performance upgrades, the same vehicle is taken to a test
track to find out the new vehicle top speed. The upgrades have increased engine torque to 450
Nm and engine horsepower to 300 kW and an overall powertrain efficiency of 88%. After the
upgrades, the minimum gear ratio of the transmission is 0.9, and the differential gear ratio is
3.21. Calculate the maximum speed of the vehicle.
Assume
Vehicle mass = 1741 kg,
Frontal area = 2.42
Rolling resistance coefficient =
Aerodynamic drag coefficient = 0.36
Tire symbol - 295/30ZR20
Dynamic radius,
Acceleration
It is most often referred to as a vehicle’s 0–60 mph time.

– mass factor which considers the mass moments of inertia of the rotating components
during a change of acceleration

- total angular moment of the wheels

- total angular moment of rotating components associated with the engine
The acceleration time and distance from low to high speed are given by
Acceleration of a gasoline engine powered Acceleration of an electric machine-powered
vehicle with four-gear transmission vehicle with single-gear transmission
Drawbar Pull
•  Horizontal force available to a vehicle for accelerating.
• Decreases as the speed of the vehicle increases (due to increasing resistance and
decreasing transmission gear ratios)
• Drawbar pull is the difference between tractive effort available and tractive effort
required to overcome resistance at a specified speed.
Drawbar Pull =
Drawbar power = Drawbar pull x wheel speed
Example
A two-wheel drive tractor with rear wheel rolling radius of 600 mm develops a tractive
force of 18.5 kN. The engine speed is 2400 rpm and the transmission ratio from the engine
to the rear wheels is 120:1. If the tractor experiences a motion resistance of 1.75 kN, find
the drawbar power developed by the tractor.
References
• https://nptel.ac.in/courses/108/103/108103009/
• Modern Electric, Hybrid Electric, and Fuel Cell Vehicles: Fundamentals, Theory and Design
by Mehrdad Ehsani, Yimin Gao, Sebastien E. Gay, Ali Emadi.