Exercise 1

Simulation
This exercise will take two weeks. It should be done in teams of two. The
purpose of this lab is to familiarize you with using the Simulink program to
model physical systems. You will begin by making a model of a simple massspring-damper system. After that model works, you will proceed to develop a
more complicated model of an automobile suspension system.

1.1

Mass-Spring-Damper System

We will spend a good deal of time in ME422 studying this type of system, as
it represents the basic building block of most non-trivial dynamic systems. The
mathematical model of this system is derived for you so that you can enter this
model into Simulink . The dynamic model is derived by the use of the Free
x, .x, ..x

FBD:
spring: k

F
F in

MAD:
mass: m

m ..
x

damper: b

Figure 1.1: Mass-Spring-Damper System

Body Diagram and Mass Acceleration Diagram. Consider the forces in the x
direction, with right being positive:
Fx = max
The force in the spring is Fk = kx, where x is the displacement of the body away
from the rest (equilibrium) position. The force in the damper is F b = bx ,
where
x is the velocity of the body in the positive x direction. F in is an externally
applied force; it represents something pushing on the mass.
Fin Fk Fb

= mx

Quarter-Car Model
Fin kx bx

1-2

= mx

mx = Fin bx kx
1
(Fin bx kx)
x =
m
Now that we have an equation, we can enter it into our Simulink

model.

Mass-Spring-Damper Assignment
First create a Simulink model of the mass-spring-damper system. Use the
following data: W = 2 lb, b = 10 lb/(ft/sec), and k = 10 lb/in. Note that the
weight W is in pounds, which are units of force. Pounds-mass do not exist
in this class; mass is measured in slugs or kilograms. Perform the following tests
on your model. Plot system output graphs showing the masss position,
velocity, and acceleration on one page for each step.
(a) With an input of zero and zero initial conditions, the model should just
sit there. Plot an output which shows it doing so.
(b) Look at what happens to the system when the external force is 0 and the
mass is initially deflected to the left of its equilibrium position by two
inches (the deflection is an initial condition for an integrator). Make sure
your units are right; graph scales should be in inches. The system should
start out at -2 inches. Check that the final position is where it should be.
(c) Change the damping coefficient b to 1 lb/(ft/sec) and look at the response
to the same initial deflection. Leave b at this lower value for the rest of
this exercise.
(d) Set all initial conditions to 0. Now apply a step input force of 1 lb at
time 1 second to the system and print the response. Verify that the final
position is correct given the force and spring constant.
(e) Set up an impulse force of 10 lb acting for 0.1 second starting at t = 1 sec
and continuing until t = 1.1 sec. Test the impulse force before hooking it
up to the system. That is, set up the input force off in an out-of-the-way
corner of your model, without hooking it into the model, and plot a time
graph of the impulse. Hint: An impulse can be thought of as the sum of
two step functions, one for the up part and one back down.
(f ) Connect the impulse force to the system as the force input. Run a simulation and plot the results; confirm that the results are correct.

1.2

Quarter-Car Model

Figure 1.2 shows a simplified pictorial view of one quarter of the suspension of
a car, and a schematic view which we use to analyze the system. This model is
used to analyze the response of one wheel to a disturbance such as a bump in
the road.
mc xc = ks (xw xc ) + bs (xw xc )
mw xw = kt (xg xw ) + bt (xg xw ) ks (xw xc ) bs (xw xc )

1-3

Simulation
Car Body Attaches Here
Wheel and Tire

..
xc
x. c
xc

Spring and Damper

mc

ks
..
xw
.
xw
xw

Hub Assembly

bs

mw

kt

Car
body

Wheel
and
tire

bt

Figure 1.2: Quarter-Car Suspension

Note the variable xg . This represents the position off the ground. In order to
simulate the effect of a pothole or speed bump, use x g as a varying input.
You may have noticed that the preceding equation does not contain a term
for the weight of the car, nor a term for the force in the spring which holds the
car up. Since these forces are constant and cancel one another, we leave them
out and treat the vehicles vertical motions as deviations from the zero point
which represents the carsitting still supported on its springs.

Quarter-Car Assignment
Model the quarter car using Simulink. Use W c = 1000 lb, Wt = 175 lb, ks =
200 lb/in, kt = 1600 lb/in, bs = 40 lb/(ft/sec), and bt = 3 lb/(ft/sec). It looks
as if its a quarter SUV. Print out the model to turn in.
(g) Derive the equations of motion of the wheel and car body. Turn in the
derivations with your lab report.
(h) Test your model the same way you might test the shocks on a used car:
deflect the car downward by two inches, and then let it go. What would
happen to the car in real life? Does your model behave appropriately?
You should make sure your model does not blow up (meaning that the
result fails to converge and instead takes on huge values as time increases).
Check that the steady-state values of x and for the car and wheel are
x
correct.
(i) As another test of your model, jack the car up 2 inches (this means that
the initial conditions of the wheel and car body are two inches up), then
kick the jack out from under the wheel. Verify that the model behaves
as it should. There is a significant difference between the simplified model
used here and the actual situation; what is this difference?
(j) Now lets predict how the vehicle will respond in use. Imagine that the
vehicle is driven over the curb around the parking lot by the library be-

Deliverables

1-4

cause someone is in a big hurry to get to class. We approximate the curb

as 4 high and 6 wide. Let the vehicle be traveling at 10 mph. When you
plot out your results, put two plots on one sheet of paper (with subplot).
One plot should show car and wheel velocities and the other should show
car and wheel displacements.
(k) Have the car travel down a washboard road with 6 inch (peak to peak)
sinusoidal bumps every five feet. Have the car travel at 5 mph. Run
the simulation and print out the displacements and velocities in the same
format as for the previous step.
(l) Try again with the car moving at 2 mph. What has caused the different
response?

1.3

Deliverables

No formal report is required for this exercise. Instead, turn in a package containing the following items:
A title page with a very short memo (half a page or so) describing your
work. Focus on the results.
A printout of your Simulink system models for the mass-spring-damper
and quarter-car systems. On the model, each signal arrow must be labeled
with the signal name and its units; each block must be large enough so
that its contents can be seen.
The derivation of the equations of motion of the quarter-car model. This
should of course include your FBDs and MADs.
For each step (a), (b), (c), etc., turn in plots of the systems time response.
These should be three plots (acceleration, velocity, position) on separate
axes for the mass-spring-damper problem and the velocity and position
combined plots requested for the quarter-car problem. On the same page
as the plot(s), show any relevant hand calculations which verify that
the responses are correct. The axes of each graph must have labels; also
label each page to show which step it is.