A Comparative Study to Assess the Effect and Cause of Ride Quality and Comfort of Passenger Vehicle with Subjective Correlation

Vehicle Dynamics testing has its importance in the fields of benchmarking and the validation of mathematical models built in order to predict the ride performance of the vehicle. The importance of enhancing the ride comfort is increasing day by day in present day scenario because of the long hours of driving experience. In presented work, the ride testing is done for two hatchback vehicles on highway conditions in order to compare the ride quality and ride comfort. The parameters like Vibration Dose Value, SEAT factor and Ride Diagram values are used to evaluate the ride comfort. After successful evaluation of the vibration levels affecting the ride comfort of the driver as well as the passenger the next major task is to identify and study the cause of the discomfort. The cause of the discomfort is studied and analyzed in terms of the complex motion of the vehicle. Vehicle motions like choppiness produces higher levels of discomfort as compared to the vertical movement of the vehicle. In order to correlate the objective test results with driver perception, subjective test is also carried out for four drivers for the same test conditions followed for the objective tests. Finally, a well-defined matrix is developed including all the parameters that affect the ride quality and ride comfort of the vehicle.