Number 4, Volume X, December 2015

NEW APPROACH TO MEASURE THE VEHICLE CENTRE

OF GRAVITY HEIGHT
Petr Hejtmánek1, Ondřej Blaťák2, Jan Vančura3

Summary: The vertical position of the car’s centre of gravity is one of the main parameters
that influence vehicle handling and thus also the active traffic safety. The vehicle
handling is nowadays frequently researched with the help of mathematical
simulations, but for these it is necessary to provide correct values of the individual
parameters of the vehicle. This study presents new approach to the measurement of
the centre of gravity height with the help of a device which is primarily designated
to measure the vehicle’s moments of inertia. This method utilizes the influence of the
centre of gravity height on the value of the measured oscillation period of the
designed device. The method is verified, first on the known parameters and then on
the two vehicles.
Key words: centre of gravity height, moment of inertia, test rig, experiment

INTRODUCTION
The vertical position of the centre of gravity is one of the fundamental parameters that
influence vehicle handling a thus also the traffic safety. The higher the centre of gravity the
greater the load transfer between the wheels during the driving manoeuvre, i.e. turning,
breaking and acceleration. Usually, with the increase of the wheel load transfer the vehicle’s
driving limits decrease (usable tire forces), and it is so due to the decrease of the tire relative
forces (longitudinal and lateral) with the increasing load. Except for the decrease of the
vehicle’s limits, also the increase of the centre of gravity height influences the vehicle
handling and its rollover sensitivity. This factor is critical for the vehicles with great height of
the centre of gravity (SUVs, vans, and pickups) which are more rollover sensitive then
common passenger cars. Therefore, the effort of the designers should be to reach the lowest
possible values of the centre of gravity height. However, this parameter may be in contrast to
the other criteria of the vehicle, i.e. comfort of the passengers, view from the vehicle, etc.

Since the centre of gravity height belongs to the fundamental parameters of a vehicle,
along the vehicle weight, it is necessary to focus on the influence of the centre of gravity
height on the vehicle handling, for example, with the help of vehicle simulations. To obtain

                                                            
1
Ing. Petr Hejtmánek, Ph.D., Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of
Automotive Engineering, Technická 2896/2 , 616 69 Brno, Tel.: +420 541 142 265,
E-mail: [email protected]
2
Ing. Ondřej Blaťák, Ph.D., Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of
Automotive Engineering, Technická 2896/2 , 616 69 Brno, Tel.: +420 541 142 252,
E-mail: [email protected]
3
Ing. Jan Vančura, Ph.D., Brno University of Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of
Automotive Engineering, Technická 2896/2 , 616 69 Brno, Tel.: +420 541 142 265,
E-mail: [email protected]

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Number 4, Volume X, December 2015
 

valid results of simulations, it is necessary to ensure correct values of the vertical position of
the centre of gravity, however to measure the centre of gravity if far more difficult than to
measure its weight. One of the basic methods to identify the vertical position of the vehicle’s
centre of gravity is the “tilting method” which require elevating the front end or the rear end
of the vehicle. However, this approach has many inaccuracies caused by the tire and springs
deformations, motion of fuel, coolants and lubricants, influence of the longitudinal forces in
the tire contact patch, and others. On the other hand, a very precise is the “swinging method”
which is based on the device which functions as a swing with lateral rotation axis, where the
centre of gravity is levelled perpendicularly to the rig rotation axis. Subsequently, a specific
weight is placed on the device in a specific position and the centre of gravity height is
calculated from the tilt angle of the test rig, the principle of this method is introduced in the
Fig.1.

Source: (1)

Fig. 1 – Principle of swinging method for measurement of the centre of gravity height

The study by The University of Michigan from 1991, states that this method reaches
the accuracy up to 5% and repeatability up to 1% (2). Also the errors caused by the
deformation of springs and the motion of fuel, coolants and lubricants is lower, since the
desired tilt change of the vehicle is much lower than with the tilting method. Moreover, it is
necessary to prevent any longitudinal motion of vehicle sprung mass, since the accuracy
considerably depends on this motion. Although these laboratory methods bring satisfactory
results, their main disadvantage is in the need to design a special device. Therefore, modern
studies focus on the methods that identify the horizontal position of the centre of gravity
during the driving manoeuvre. These methods utilize the dependency of the load transfer
between the wheels during the vehicle’s dynamic motion. Since the measurement of the wheel
load during the driving is complicated, measurement of other vehicle parameters is utilized.
For example, Barazaji (3) in his work set up a method of calculation of the centre of gravity
height of a commercial vehicle with a semitrailer with the help of the measurement of the
pressure change in air springs during a breaking manoeuvre. While the relative accuracy
seems to be sufficient, the measurement repeatability is low, which could be caused by many

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neglected factors: e.g. tilt of sprung masses, load transfer through the suspension, tire
deformation, etc. These factors may be included in the method of effective tire radius
measurement (4). The effective tire radius is also dependent on normal load and from its
change, during the dynamic manoeuvre, it is also possible to determine the centre of gravity
height. The disadvantage of this approach is the need to consider the constant radial tire
stiffness and the usability only for vehicles with the front-wheel drive. The accuracy of this
method is approximately 10%.

Based on the above, each method has its disadvantages, and therefore, this study
focuses on examination of the efficiency of a new method based on the determination of the
vertical position of the centre of gravity with the help of the vehicle’s moment of inertia.

1. METHOD’S PRINCIPLE
The new approach to the identification of the centre of gravity height makes use of the
moment of inertia measurement principles with the help of the physical pendulum method. At
the Institute of Automotive Engineering (IAE), Brno University of Technology (BUT) a test
rig (Fig. 2) has been constructed for measurement of the vehicle’s moments of inertia to three
mutually perpendicular axes with the physical pendulum method.

Source: Author

Fig. 2 – Test rig for measurement of the vehicle’s moments of inertia

The test rig consists of several levels which may be connected and set so the moments
of inertia to all three axes could be measured. The main principle of this device is in the
determination of the moment of inertia based on the relation between the value of the period
of free rotary oscillation and the value of the moment of inertia. The opposed coil springs
ensure the oscillating motion for the measurement of the roll and pitch moment of inertia. The
torsional spring provide measurement of the yaw moment of inertia. Although, in reality, it is
a damped oscillation (i.e. the damping influences the oscillation period), previous studies
found out that the damping is insignificant (6). Fig. 3 demonstrates the derivation of the
relation between the moment of inertia and the oscillation period, the detailed derivation can
be found in (5).

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Source: (1)

Fig. 3 – Principle of the roll moment of inertia measurement

∙ ∙ ∙
∙ (1)
∙

Where:
Cp coil spring stiffness
Gv vehicle weight
Gp pendulum weight
I moment of inertia of vehicle and pendulum about an rotation axis
l distance form spring to rotation axis
h vehicle centre of gravity height
ho distance from rotation axis to pendulum floor
hp distance from pendulum centre of gravity to pendulum floor

This formula solves the moment of inertia for the whole system, i.e. the vehicle and the
rotating parts of the test rig. To determine the moment of inertia of the vehicle itself it is
necessary to subtract the moment of inertia of the rotating parts, and recalculate measured
moment of inertia with respect to the test rig rotation axis to the vehicle centre of gravity with
use of Steiner theorem. Nevertheless, to derive formula to calculate the vertical position of the
centre of gravity, this basic form is sufficient. From the given formula it is evident that the
measured moment of inertia to the rotation axis of the test rig depends, among others, on the
centre of gravity height and spring stiffness. If the spring stiffness was changed (i – stiffness
modification coefficient) then only the pendulum oscillation period would change, the vehicle
centre of gravity height and the overall moment of inertia remain same (the influence of the
change in the weight of the spring and its moment of inertia is small, so it may be neglected).

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When using two sets of springs into the test rig then the following formula is used to
determine the horizontal position of the centre of gravity:
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙
(2)
∙

Even though a specialized device is needed to determine the horizontal position of the
centre of gravity, its main advantage is its versatile application. The accuracy of the
identification of the moment of inertia with the help of the physical pendulum method is very
sensitive to the accuracy of determination of the angular oscillation period, accuracies and
sensitivity of the measurement are analysed in (6). To determine the oscillation period the
time history of the angular velocity is used, from which the oscillation period is calculated by
the regressive analysis with 0.0001s accuracy.

2. MEASUREMENT
To evaluate the applicability of the methodology, first a measurement of the vertical
position of the centre of gravity of an object with known geometrical and weight parameters
was carried out. For this purpose a soft-grained filter sand was used. Sand was in four
containers of a simple shape which were almost half full (Fig. 4). From their weight, volume,
and precisely determined position of the barrels with respect to the device’s rotation axis the
moment of inertia of the sand in the containers was determined.

Source: (7)

Fig. 4 – Measurement of four containers with sand

The total weight of the sand was 600kg. To determine the horizontal position of the
centre of gravity the moment of inertia to the device’s longitudinal axis was measured. No
transfer of the sand occurred (so the measurement accuracy was not affected) since the
oscillation period was relatively high and the tilt angel very small. Measurement order was as
follows: the barrels with sand were properly placed on the measuring device and the

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oscillation period for the basic spring’s stiffness was measured. Subsequently, the springs
enabling free oscillating motion were replaced by a spring with lower stiffness (50%), thus
the oscillation period was prolonged (approx. 45%). The sand’s horizontal position of the
centre of gravity was calculated from the measured values of the period and other known
parameters. Tab. 1 provides the comparison of the measured and derived values of the sand’s
vertical position of the centre of gravity, the resultant values given is the arithmetic mean of
10 repetitions. From the results, it may be concluded, that the accuracy of the measurement of
the centre of gravity height is approximately 4.5% with the use of proposed method, which
corresponds to the accuracy of the swinging method, and also provides a better results than
on-line methods.

Tab. 1 – Sand centre of gravity height comparison

Estimated Measured Difference
[mm] [mm] [%]
193.7 202.5 +4.5
Source: Authors

3. METHODS COMPARISON
Next phase of this study is to compare the new approach to the tilting method.
Therefore, an experimental vehicle from IEA was used: Formula Faster Ford 1600. The
vehicle had its dampers replaced by stiff rods, and thus an alteration in position of sprung
mass with respect to unsprung masses was prevented. Also no alteration in the formula’s
vertical position of the centre of gravity appeared. The weight of the vehicle was 400kg. As it
may be seen in the Fig. 5, the load transfer during the elevation was not measured on the
wheels but on the front part of the frame, therefore another negative influence was eliminated,
i.e. tire deformation with the increased load. The vertical position of the centre of gravity was
then calculated in respect to the road and the static position of the vehicle. Measurement of
the load transfer was carried out in several positions while the rear part was elevated and also
the measurement was repeated several times to determine the repeatability of measurement,
which was satisfactory (3.4%). Afterwards, the formula’s centre of gravity height was
determined with the help of the moment of inertia measurement method (see Fig. 6). The
principle and method of measurement were identical to the measurement of the sand’s vertical
position of the centre of gravity. The formula was tightly fixed to the platform. The fuel tank
was empty because the fuel motion could negatively impact the accuracy of measurement. In
Tab. 2, the results of both measurements of formula’s centre of gravity height are given and
compared:

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Source: (1)

Fig. 5 – Tilting method for measurement of centre of gravity height

Source: (1)

Fig. 6 – Measurement on the new test rig

Tab. 2 Comparison of two methods for centre of gravity height measurement

Tilting method Inertia method Difference
[mm] [mm] [%]
237.2 231.7 -2.3
Source: Authors

The accuracy of these methods cannot be determined by the comparison of these results
since the precise value of the formula’s centre of gravity height is not given. Both approaches
provide the measured value with certain inaccuracy. However, they may at least be compared.
The results show that the differences in the determination of the centre of gravity height are
relatively small (2.3%). Even though the tilting method is not very accurate (based on the
previous research), when taking into consideration the number of negative factors being
eliminated during the measurement, it may be concluded that the determination of the
horizontal position of the centre of gravity with the help of moment of inertia measurement
method is suitable for this type of vehicle.

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4. THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY HEIGHT OF A PASSENGER CAR

The last experiment of this study is to measure the passenger car’s centre of gravity
height using the moment of inertia measurement method. As mentioned above, using the test
rig the moment of inertia to three mutually perpendicular axes may be determined, while two
of them are influenced by vertical position of the centre of gravity (roll, pitch). Measurement
was so far used in respect to the longitudinal axis of the device, however, if employed the
same principles with the respect to the lateral axis, we would get two resultant values of the
vehicle’s centre of gravity height which should be identical since the position of the vehicle
on the platform does not change. Same as with the measurement of the Formula Faster Ford,
the precise value of the height of the centre of gravity is not known, therefore the results serve
only as means to carry out a comparison. For this measurement a vehicle with a higher centre
of gravity was chosen on purpose, i.e. Škoda Yeti (see Fig. 7). Standardized measurement was
carried out with two sets of springs, the vertical position of the centre of gravity was
identified by oscillating about longitudinal and lateral axis. The fuel tank was full, the vehicle
was fixed to the test rig with ratchet tie down straps, and the interior was empty with the
overall weight of the vehicle being 1300 kg.

Source: (8)

Fig. 7 – Measurement of the centre of gravity height with new method

Tab. 3 – Results of centre of gravity height estimation for passenger car

Roll motion Pitch motion Difference
[mm] [mm] [%]
564.2 714.0 26.6
Source: Authors

The Tab. 3 shows the values of the horizontal position of the centre of gravity that are
noticeably different, by 26.6%. On the basis of this negative result, sensitivity analyses of the

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individual parameters’ effect on the accuracy of the measurement were performed. Among
other, these analyses detected the need to measure the oscillation period more accurately as
the height of the centre of gravity increases. However, this kind of precision markedly
exceeds the repeatability rate of the oscillation period measurement and also the physical
limits of the sensors used. This negative influence may be, to some extent, decreased by the
use of two sets of springs with further difference in stiffness, at least by 800%. This kind of
difference may be reached only by the employment of higher number of springs, which would
lead to the rebuild of the test rig. From the sensitivity analysis, it is evident that the accuracy
of the rig is very sensitive to precise measurement of spring stiffness and vehicle weight.
However, the accuracy of the devices used to determine the values of these parameters is
sufficient.

CONCLUSION
Based on the measurements and analyses carried out, it may be concluded that the
current method to determine the centre of gravity height utilizing the moment of inertia is
applicable to the vehicles with low position of the centre of gravity, i.e. formulas. Accuracy
and repeatability of the measuring device is in this case sufficient and is comparable to the
other methods. However, for common passenger cars, with their higher centre of gravity,
there would be a need to design adjustment of the test rig so the overall spring stiffness could
be markedly changed with the help of a higher number of coil springs. This alteration would
make the measurement of the vertical position of the centre of gravity with the oscillation
period less sensitive and thus the measurement of the vertical position of the centre of gravity
would be more precise. However, these assumptions may be validated only by the above
mention adjustment of the test rig and by carrying out more experiments.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The research leading to these results has received funding from the Ministry of
Education, Youth and Sports under the National Sustainability Programme I (Project
LO1202).

REFERENCES
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Ondřej Blaťák, Ph.D.,
(2) WINKLER, C., Center of Gravity Height: A Round-Robin Measurement Program, The
Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, Detroit, 1991.
(3) BARAZANJI, D., Model Based Estimation of Height of Center of Gravity in Heavy
Vehicles. 2012. ISSN 1401-2294.

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