Measurement of the yaw moment of inertia of a go-kart

Abstract

A computational model of the dynamic behaviour of a go-kart has been implemented as the first step in the development of an electrical vehicle advanced control system and the lateral dynamics model needed its yaw moment of inertia as input value. Therefore, this study presents experimental measurements of the yaw moment of inertia of a recreational go-kart using two similar methodologies: the 'three cables' (trifilar) swinging torsion pendulum and the 'four cables' (quadrifilar) swinging torsion pendulum. Parallel to the experimental tests carried out, yaw moment of inertia calculation was done by the traditional methodology of mechanical engineering. Also, the measurement uncertainty was calculated for each method. The trifilar method presented, in this test, the lowest measurement uncertainty.