Stuttgart University: Institute for Combustion Engines and Automotive Engineering (IVK)

The institute for Combustion Engines and Automotive Engineering (IVK) at Stuttgart University has recently started to work with CarMaker and the axle kinematics calculation program IPG-KINEMATICS. The programs will support both the teaching activities of the institute and the research of controller systems in the automotive area.

In practical courses the students will learn to use multi-body simulation in automotive engineering. They will build up their own multi-body suspension models with IPG-KINEMATICS and analyze the calculated quantities. The models can afterwards be integrated in CarMaker and tested by virtual test driving.

Furthermore, CarMaker is used for the research of steering control systems that will steer a vehicle autonomously, i.e. without a driver, on a test track. The aim of replacing the driver by a computer is to get reproducible results in driving tests. The comparability of test and simulation will thereby be augmented. The engineers at the IVK develop non-linear controller concepts that are specifically designed for highly precise trajectory series in lateral dynamic limits. Testing the controller concepts by performing vehicle dynamics simulation plays an important role for the development of these control systems.