Determination of a vehicle´s fuel consumption through the simulation its dynamic behavior

• Vidal Montiel Universidad del Zulia-Venezuela
• Analí Machado Universidad del Zulia-Venezuela
• Carlos Araujo Universidad del Zulia-Venezuela
• ílvaro Ochoa Universidad del Zulia-Venezuela

Palabras clave: fuel consumption, vehicles, driving schedule

Resumen

The objective of this work is to develop a model capable of simulation the dynamic behavior of a lightweight vehicle with standard transmission. The model will be used to obtain the vehicle´s fuel consumption when driven in urban and suburban areas using either gasoline or CNG. The model is based in the vehicle´s energy balance taking into accoun the environmental conditions, the engine´s load and the technical characteristics of the engine. In order to approximate different conditions and characteristics, the following methods were used: polynomial regression using the least square criteria, and the Gauss-Jordan method without partial pivoting. In addition, Simpson´s method of numerical integration was used to solve certain equations. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that the model propose offers a good estimate of the fuel consumption, and represents a good tool for the study of the vehicle´s behavior when using alternative fuels.