Just testing

[Krister2]

The Forum has just come back and it is dead quiet. I am just testing if it possible to post.

[mech5496]

Was wondering the same, it seems to work now.

[CWA]

hoo-ray. phew, it's back. aaand breathe.

does anyone know what happened?

[FSAE.com]

We had a problem on one of our hosting servers. Possibly hacked.
Problem resolved and additional security measures have been taken.

Apologies for the downtime.

[Pennyman]

I thought this was going to be a much-needed discussion about vehicle testing.

Nevermind.

[Big Bird]

Thank you FSAE.COM
In your absence I had to talk to people. Real live ones. They scared me. Thank you for restoring our sanctuary

[BillCobb]

So, make it about Testing. Testing is necessary to validate design decisions and to build confidence in durability and human factors choices (did you pick the right driver, is the seating position OK, are the controls manageable and operable and working correctly.

For some simple handling tests (you can practice on your own personal cars) all you need for a first example is wa yaw to measure speed and yaw velocity. With good transducers and some Kalmann filtering, you can get yaw velocity and sideslip from a couple of lateral accelerometers properly conditioned. Then you need a test area (parking lot, airport or stadium).

A constant radius or constant steer procedure will deliver some fundamental nonlinear performance characteristics that ought to be targeted by your design team. Meeting them, exceeding them, or changing them as you progress through a test series is a good confidence builder, makes good hay for design judges, and shakes out the bugs in any vehicle.

More elaborate tests with additional transducers and instrumentation packages will probably follow once you wet your appetite. These are usually open loop tests, but there are some other useful closed loop procedures that can reveal a car ready for racing.

Testing is the bridge between analysis and hardware selection best practices.

[Pennyman]

Totally agree Bill,

Additionally, looking for interesting or peculiar wear patterns on components can give insight into when to replace or if something is underbuilt. Sensitivities in vehicle functionality related to temperature and humidity (rain), vibrations, and other environmental factors go beyond the laptime metric.

[Will M]

During early testing safety is even more critical than at competition.
Besides making sure your test area is clear of parked cars sweep for nails and things that could pop a tire.
Also as component failures are common during test make sure you have an adequately sized crew to quickly inspect the car in between test runs.
And never never never skip the fire safety gear!

-William