Study of connections between modules of an articulated vehicle using multibody approach

The objective of this thesis is to determine the position, value and type of connection between the different modules of an articulated vehicle through the use of a multibody software called "Simpack". In detail, the mean of transport that has been considered is a trolleybus moved by electric motors and equipped with autonomous driving. All the data have been provided by the company mentioned above, in fact, some parts could not be included for issues of corporate secrecy. During the discussion, it is explained how the following work is placed in the world's literature, starting with an analysis of the articles about autonomous driving and articulated vehicles; then, a detailed description of the trolleybus is made followed by the mathematical treatment of the elements used in the model such as the tire-asphalt contact, the longitudinal dampers and the tracks used to validate the results. Afterwards, the multibody approach is explained in a summary way, to give an idea of how it works and why it is used, and then moving on to the construction of the real model using the dedicated software; in this chapter the various steps useful to complete the model are explained in detail, starting from the construction of the various modules, the connection up to the use of speed control and steering systems. Finally, starting from the model in its entirety, the elements of connection are optimized thanks to the workspace in Simpack called "DoE" (Design of Experiment) which allows you to perform sensitivity analysis; in this chapter is optimized one element at a time, so the interaction between the various elements is not taken into account, this is because the optimization is performed on a path built ad hoc to excite a precise degree of freedom that is precisely regulated by the element of connection considered. Once all the elements are optimized, the forces exchanged by the spherical joint are extracted.