Bond Graphs for Vehicle Dynamics

For the purposes of analyzing the stability and control properties of aircraft, automobiles, and ships, it is convenient to idealize the vehicle as a rigid body and to use a body-centered coordinate frame. A six-port bond graph is first developed which represents the nonlinear dynamics of a rigid body in a coordinate system rotating with the body. It is then shown how the graph simplifies if only lateral or longitudinal dynamics are studied. Finally, bond graphs for the type of stability studies in which the assumption of small perturbations permits linearization are shown for elementary models of automobiles and aircraft.