Asee peer logo

Determination of Road Load Coefficients with Smartphone Accelerometers

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Student Projects in Physics Education, Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D) Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Engineering Physics and Physics Division (EP2D)

Page Count

16

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43015

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43015

Download Count

201

Paper Authors

biography

Günter Bischof Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

visit author page

Günter Bischof is currently an associate professor at Joanneum University of Applied Sciences and teaches engineering and applied mathematics.

visit author page

biography

Felix Mayrhofer Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

visit author page

Felix Mayrhofer is currently studying Automotive Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum Graz. When he has finished his studies, he wants to work as an Vehicle Dynamics Engineer.

visit author page

biography

Domenic Mönnich Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

visit author page

Domenic Mönnich is currently studying Automotive Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum Graz. After completion of his studies, he aspires to work in the field of research and development.

visit author page

biography

Christian J. Steinmann Joanneum University of Applied Sciences, Austria

visit author page

Christian Steinmann has an engineer degree in mathematics from the Technical University Graz, where he focused on software quality and software development process assessment and improvement. He is manager of HM&S IT-Consulting and provides services for SPiCE/ISO 15504 and CMMI for development as a SEI-certified instructor. He performed more than 100 process assessments in software development departments for different companies in the finance, insurance, research, automotive, and automation sector. Currently, his main occupation is a consulting project for process improvement for safety related embedded software development for an automobile manufacturer. On Fridays, he is teaching computer science introductory and programming courses at Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Due to the integrated sensors, smartphone owners carry not only handy communication tools but also fully-fledged data acquisition and measurement systems in miniature form in their pockets. The measured data can be transferred quickly and easily to laptops or desktop PCs, where they are then available for further processing. Consequently, smartphones can enrich physics and engineering education in many ways, as they enable low-threshold access to physical measurement methods. In order to make use of this possibility, undergraduate student research projects with measuring tasks were initiated. One of them was the determination of the rolling and aerodynamic drag coefficients of model vehicles by using the accelerometers of their smartphones. The coastdown technique should be used, in which the vehicle is accelerated to a specified speed, shifted into neutral and allowed to decelerate freely. The time rate of change of its velocity is proportional to the total resistive force, which is assumed to consist of a speed-independent rolling resistance and an air resistance proportional to the square of the vehicle's speed. A smartphone attached to the model vehicle provides the time-dependent acceleration data, which is usually noisy and needs to be smoothed. The vehicle velocity, on the other hand, can be obtained from the acceleration data by numerical integration. By plotting the vehicle acceleration on the abscissa and the velocity square on the ordinate in a coordinate system for the coasting process, a straight line can be fitted. From the slope of this straight line, the aerodynamic drag coefficient can be derived, and its intersection with the ordinate provides information on the rolling resistance coefficient. Three teams of three or four students each worked simultaneously and competitively on that project. They independently conducted experiments and developed computer programs for the visualization of the data and evaluation of the measurements. In this paper, the theoretical background, the approach to the problem and the outcome of the undergraduate student projects are presented and discussed.

Bischof, G., & Mayrhofer, F., & Mönnich, D., & Steinmann, C. J. (2023, June), Determination of Road Load Coefficients with Smartphone Accelerometers Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43015

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015