Libros UCLV { BETA }

More than two decades have elapsed since the first publication of this book in the United States in 1978. During this period the first edition went through ten printings, and the second edition, which first appeared in 1993, went through more than seven printings. An increasing number of universities in North America, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere have adopted it as a text for courses in automotive engineering, vehicle dynamics, off-road vehicle engineering, or terramechanics. Many professionals in the vehicle industry around the world have also used it as a reference. It is gratifying indeed to see that the book has achieved such wide acceptance. As we enter a new millennium, the automotive industry is facing greater challenges than ever before in providing safer, more environmentally friendly, and more energy-efficient products to meet increasingly stringent demands of society. As a result, new technologies have continually been developed and introduced into its products. Accordingly, to better serve the changing needs of the educational and professional communities related to ground transportation technology, this third edition has been prepared. To improve competitiveness, shortening the product development cycle is of critical importance to vehicle manufacturers. Virtual prototyping is therefore widely adopted in the industry. To implement this process effectively, however, the development of reliable computer simulation models for vehicle performance evaluation is essential. For a realistic simulation of the handling behavior of road vehicles, a method referred to as the Magic Formula for characterizing tire behavior from test data is gaining increasingly wide acceptance.