Automotive Lateral Dynamics and Mass Properties Course Available at the 78th Int. Conf.

Automotive Lateral Dynamics and Mass Properties
by Brian Paul Wiegand

On May 20th at the Norfolk Hilton (“The Main”) an eight-hour course in “Automotive Lateral Dynamics” will be offered under the auspices of the SAWE as part of the society’s 78th International Conference. The course objective will be to enable the attendees to make reasonably accurate maximum lateral acceleration, rollover lateral acceleration, directional stability, and steering responsiveness determinations in the course of vehicle design. In route to attaining that objective, attendees will also become acquainted with such things as the calculation of roll resistance, suspension roll center location, sprung mass roll axis inclination, sprung mass roll inertia, sprung mass roll moment arm, sprung mass roll angle under lateral acceleration, vehicle roll gain, vehicle dynamic index in yaw, transient center of rotation location, and transient yaw inertia. There will also be considerable time spent on “Ackermann Steering Geometry” relationships and the behavior of tires under lateral load.

The seminar achieves its objective through a classical engineering approach that emphasizes determining vehicle lateral performance through simple models and simulations which are easy to comprehend and apply. Mass properties will play a major role as attendees will become acquainted with the principles of “weight accounting,” mass properties manipulation, and mass properties optimization.

This seminar is very important for anyone engaged in vehicle design, in particular, those designing with an emphasis on performance, and special effort has been expended to make it particularly relevant for those involved in the SAE Student Formula Design Competition. However, no one completing this course will walk away without having acquired some degree of enlightenment; as well as a Certificate of Achievement, print-out of the course Vu-Graphs, electronic (flash drive) copies of the SAWE Paper #3528 (“Mass Properties & Maximum Lateral Acceleration”), and the seminar’s “Maximum Lateral Acceleration Estimation Spreadsheet” (MS-Excel).

Additional course information can be found at this link: SAWE Conference Announcement and Training Program .

The course is open to students and mass properties professionals alike; the cost of registration for full-time students is only $50! Individuals desirous of attending this seminar should inform their student motorsport team leaders, contact brnwgnd@aol.com, and/or register on the conference web site at http://www.sawe.org.

Your organization needs competent mass properties engineers

According to a survey conducted by the Society of Allied Weight Engineers in 2018, organizations that design, build and/or operate aeronautical, marine, offshore or land vehicles need to promote the value of mass properties engineers within their organization to ensure vehicles can operate to their intended performance and safety parameters.  Simultaneously, organizations must focus on replacing and transferring the knowledge and experience of mass properties engineers who will be leaving in large numbers in the next 5 to 10 years.

The aforementioned is the leading paragraph to a letter being distributed to the leaders in government and industry to promote the value of mass properties engineering, while also inviting them to learn more about SAWE and how SAWE can address the collective needs of those organizations who need competent mass properties engineers.  The attached letter and accompanying enclosure have been distributed to the leadership of over 200 addressees  worldwide.  We want to increase the reach of this letter by asking you to share it with your fellow mass properties engineers and elevate this letter up your management chain to garner support for increased organizational awareness and involvement.  We also encourage you to utilize this letter to secure financial support for attending the next SAWE International Conference in May in Norfolk, Virginia.

Regards,

Bill Boze

President, Society of Allied Weight Engineers

Mass Properties Engineer Certification Program

An email was sent to membership about a Mass Properties Engineer Certification. Below is the email you should have received along with a survey. This is an important opportunity for the Mass Properties career field, and we strongly encourage all members of SAWE to take the survey.

SAWE is exploring creating a Mass Properties Engineer Certification program.  The envisioned program would provide mass properties engineers with credentials of their qualifications in a tiered level of experience structure.  It would provide organizations with confidence that certified mass properties personnel have qualifications recognized by industry standards that will produce safe, efficient, and top quality results for their products.  Eventually we envision qualifiying this certification program for ANSI accreditation and ISO compliance. 

The following is a survey to get your feedback and thoughts about Mass Properties Engineer Certification.  The program is currently in development and results of our exploration will be reviewed this May at the International Conference both at the Board of Director’s Meeting and in a special forum on Monday afternoon.  Please take the survey and give us your thoughts and feedback.


Mass Properties Engineer Certification Survey

Spring Journal Articles

If you are interested in writing an article for the Spring Journal, submissions are due April 19th.

Please feel free to reach out to VP Publications Nick Marickovich (nmarickovich@gmail.com) or the Deputy Publications Melissa Gray (melissa.gray@sawe.org) if you have questions. The subjects can vary from mentoring to projects/papers you have been involved in.

If you have ever considered writing for the Journal, now is the time!

Please send all Journal Articles for submission to Melissa Gray (melissa.gray@sawe.org)