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Table 3.6
Units consistency
Measurement SI Metric Metric Metric FPS FPS IPS
Length m mm cm m ft ft in
Velocity m/s mm/s cm/s m/s ft/s ft/s in/s
Acceleration m/s 2 mm/s 2 cm/s 2 m/s 2 ft/s 2 ft/s 2 in/s 2
Mass kg kg kg kg slug lbm lbm
Force N N kgf kgf lbf lbf lbf
Inertia kg m 2 kg mm 2 kg cm 2 kg m 2 slug ft 2 lbm ft 2 lbm in 2
Gravity 9.81 m/s 2 9807 mm/s 2 981 cm/s 2 9.81 m/s 2 32.2 ft/s 2 32.2 ft/s 2 386.1 in/s 2
UCF 1.0 1000 981 9.81 1.0 32.2 386.1
3.5 Pre- and post-processing
Most general-purpose multibody systems analysis programs offer a preand
post-processor that allows users to define models and evaluate results
using the same graphical environment often referred to as a Graphical User
Interface (GUI). In recent years the graphical capability of programs such
as ADAMS/View has advanced considerably allowing users to build
geometries, calculate mass and inertial properties and parameterize models
for design studies. The capability to set up Design of Experiments (DOE)
studies is another powerful tool that may be exploited during the design
phase. Post-processors have the capability to output results in tabular format,
x–y plots and continuous graphic animation. The graphical functionality
of some programs also allows important results to be plotted and
models to be animated as the equations are solved. A typical example of
vehicle graphic representation is shown in Figure 3.42.
An early customization of MSC.ADAMS for automotive applications was
the ADAMS/Vehicle program originally developed as a commercially
available product which has been used by engineers from the Newman/
Hass Indy Car racing team (Trungle, 1991). The program allowed a suspension
model to be created, carry out an analysis and post-process the results
without specialist knowledge of MSC.ADAMS. The program could also be
used to automatically generate a full vehicle model, hence the title. The
pre-processor included a number of established suspension configurations
where the data was input via screen templates using familiar suspension
terminology. This has been subsequently replaced by updated products
specifically aimed at the automotive areas of suspension and full vehicle
modelling. At the time of writing there are two MSC.ADAMS related vehicle
products in use, ADAMS/Car and ADAMS/Chassis. A detailed description
will not be provided here. Such is the pace of development in these areas
that any description will rapidly become outdated.
ADAMS/Car has been developed working with a consortium of major
vehicle manufacturers including Audi, BMW, Renault and Volvo. The vehicle
manufacturers’ involvement included developing the specification for the
functionality of the software. This included, for example, determining the
suspension systems that would be included, the manoeuvres to be simulated
and the outputs and their manner of presentation. An example of the
ADAMS/Car graphical interface is shown in Figure 3.43.