Patent ID: 8452552

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for testing a vibration damper of a motor vehicle in the installed state, comprising the following steps: a) setting start values of a damping constant kA, a spring rate cA, and a body mass mA of a vibration model for a wheel of a motor vehicle by means of available vehicle data; b) inducing a vertical vibration of the motor vehicle by a defined excitation sR real ; c) calculating, by a processor, a theoretical body vibration excursion sA model by using the parameters damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA of the vibration model, and the vertical vibration defined excitation sR real ; d) optically detecting the positions of the wheel and a body shell of the motor vehicle for monitoring an observed body vibration excursion sA real at a plurality of detection instants during the vibration; e) comparing, by the processor, the observed body vibration excursion sA real with the calculated theoretical body vibration excursion sA model at the plurality of detection instants during the vibration; f) calculating, by the processor, deviations between the theoretical body vibration excursion sA model and the observed body vibration excursion sA real at the detection instants with an error function Δ = ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ ( sA real , i - sA Modell , i ) 2 ; g) minimizing, by the processor, the deviations between the theoretical body vibration excursion sA model and the observed body vibration excursion sA real at the detection instants by a model parameterization, whereby the damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA in the model parameterization are used as start values in each instance; h) determining, by the processor, the damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA from the minimized deviation; and i) determining, by the processor, a damping measure θ of the vibration damper with the parameters of damping constant kA, the spring rate cA, and the body mass mA from the minimized deviation, determining, by the processor, the unknown variables decay constant δ and natural angular frequency ω 0 with a differential equation system which is defined as ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ ⁢ [ s ¨ ⁢ A i + 2 · δ · ( s . ⁢ A i - s . ⁢ R i ) + ω 0 2 · ( sA i - sR i ) ] 2 → 0 ; and determining, by the processor, a body damping measure θ of the vibration damper on the basis of the decay constant and the natural angular frequency determined by the differential equation.