Testing

Preliminary Testing

Preliminary testing has been mostly completed. Below is a chart measuring various static quantities and comparing them to the original goals set by the team. All of the goals were very close to being met, so the team considers the manufactured vehicle successful in terms of these metrics.

Advanced Testing

When the vehicle is completed and in driving form before competition, more advanced testing will be necessary to properly tune the vehicle. This will mostly include tuning camber, caster, and toe according to driver preference and optimizing the shocks. Using driver feedback and slow motion video footage, the shocks will be tuned based on performance over several types of obstacles:

• High frequency, low amplitude: series of rocks and/or logs

• Low frequency, high amplitude: Parking spot stops or railroad ties

The goal of this optimization is to achieve a critically damped system by balancing overshoot and response time of the shocks. Videos are included on the "Prototype Videos" page.

With the suspension and shocks attached to the vehicle, it was found that the optimal shock pressures were 50 psi in the front shocks and 100 psi in the rear shocks to achieve our desired ride height of 12".

As further testing ensues, the pressures will be optimized for the various events:

Maneuverability: increase shock pressure to reduce body roll through corners

Hill Climb: decrease rear shock pressure to induce weight transfer to the rear to increase traction

Brake Test: increase front shock pressure to avoid overloading the traction on the front tires

Endurance test: set shock pressures based on survey of terrain and durability considerations