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Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory takes part in $ 770K program with European and African partners
Since January 2015 Corina Sandu , professor of mechanical engineering and Director of the Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory , ( AVDL ) and several of her graduate students have been participating in the EVE consortium project funded by a $ 770,000 European Horizon 2020 Framework Program .
The project , formally known as the Innovative Engineering of Ground Vehicles with Integrated Active Chassis Systems , brings together partners from the United States , European Union , and South Africa . Members of the consortium include industrial companies such as Tenneco Automotive , dSPACE , SKF , ES- TEQ , and Gerotek Proving Ground ; as well as research institutions including Virginia Tech , Ilmenau University of Technology ( Germany ), Chalmers University ( Sweden ), Technical University Delft ( The Netherlands ), University of Pretoria ( South Africa ), and Instituto Tecnológico de Aragón ( ITAINNOVA , Spain ).
The partners are cooperating to develop novel integrated chassis controls for sport utility vehicles ( SUVs ), including decoupled brake systems , dynamic tire pressure control , and active suspension elements . New real-time tire and vehicle models , embedded chassis controllers , and remote testing procedures using hardware- and test-rig-in-the-loop technique are major outcomes of the EVE project .
Sandu and her students are contributing to several aspects of the project , including the investigation of tire performance on ice and soil using the AVDL ’ s terramechanics rig , tire models , test-rig-in-the-loop , brake systems , vehicle systems modeling , and parameter estimation .
“ The project framework provides opportunities for research visits between staff to project partners in different locations around the world ,” Sandu said .
Professor Corina Sandu by the tire test rig which can test vehicle tires on a variety of surfaces to include dirt and ice as part of the Advanced Vehicle Dynamics Laboratory .
“ During these visits we are able to perform experiments in state-of-the-art testing facilities and cooperate with industry for solving real-world problems in ground vehicle engineering . Since the beginning of the project , several mechanical engineering graduate students from Virginia Tech and I have spent several months at TU Delft , ITAINNOVA , and the University of Pretoria , and we will go to Ilmenau University during the summer of 2016 .”
Sandu hosted principal investigator and research professor Valentin Ivanov and two other investigators from Ilmenau University where the project is being coordinated from , at AVDL in February and April , and is hosting a graduate student from the University of Pretoria in May . All research conducted throughout the project will be implemented on a Range Rover Evoque , which is being used as the case study vehicle .
Article Courtesy AVDL