Experimental identification of kinematic coupled effects between driver motorcycle

The aim of this research is to study how the rider movements change the motorcycle behaviour while executing significant manoeuvres. It is well known how the inertial characteristics of human body are comparable to the motorcycle ones: to describe the dynamical behaviour of the whole system, it is necessary to understand the body-vehicle interactions. At this aim both motorcycle and rider are equipped through sensors. The motorcycle dynamic was measured by means of an inertial platform, the suspensions shaking by linear potentiometer, the steering angle by inductive rotary sensor and the speed by a proximity sensor on the wheel. In order to identify the rider motions - while running on a race track- an original measurement system was developed in a previous work [8]: the pilot is equipped by a rigid ergal staff, constrained to the back by a multi cross belts system. Three target points are defined on the staff; these targets are pointed by six cable extension potentiometers placed on the motorcycle. A set of non linear equations are written to fully identify the translational and the cardanic rotational 3D movements of the riding body with respect to the motorcycle. To understand the rider-motorcycle interaction, both steady state manoeuvres (steering pad) and transient manoeuvres (Iso lane change, slalom) were performed.