Evaluating bicycle frame loads through semi-analytical multibody simulation methods

The use of multi-body simulation in the determination of quantitative operational loads is particularly challenging in bicycle development. This is due to the complex behavior of humans and the high diversity of routes that have to be modeled for a classical full-analytical simulation. A semi-analytical simulation approach offers the potential to circumvent existing problems in the determination of operating loads. The approach is to apply the loads at the system boundaries of the bicycle directly in the form of measurement data in the simulation. Thereby the complexity of a real rider and route can be represented in the simulation. However, this approach poses problems in the stability of the simulation, since the system has no constraints to the environment and force imbalances in the excitation lead to unwanted accelerations of the system. To achieve a stable simulation, passive and active stabilization methods can be used. In this paper, the potential of the semi-analytical simulation approach for the application to bicycles is examined. for this purpose, different simulation methods are tested and compared.