Identification of lumped stiffness parameters for a motorcycle model in investigating weave and wobble

Abstract In motorcycle dynamics, great importance is attributed to the study of the weave and wobble vibration modes and, in particular, to the effects of the flexibility of structural components on their stability. Therefore, appropriate motorcycle models for studying weave and wobble should include flexible elements for describing the flexural behavior of components such as the main frame, front assembly, and rear swingarm. Different approaches are possible for modeling flexibilities: the most common among them are the lumped stiffness and the flexible multibody approaches. While the latter certainly provides higher accuracy, the former has advantages in terms of computational load, but, above all, it makes it easier to understand in the design phase how technical parameters, such as torsional and bending stiffness of a given structural component, can influence the stability of weave and wobble. The accuracy of lumped stiffness models strongly depends on parameter identification. In this study, a general method is proposed to determine appropriate lumped stiffness parameters for any given motorcycle component. The proposed method is tested and validated by comparing the weave and wobble modal behavior with the results of flexible multibody analysis. The lumped stiffness model is then adopted to carry out a sensitivity analysis aimed at identifying the effects on the weave and wobble stability of the torsional and bending stiffness of specific structural components of the motorcycle to optimize their design.