Introduction to Vehicle Dynamics

Using Matlab
Module 1: Suspension Design
Week 2- 08/05/2017, 08/06/2017

Instructor: Karthiek
Teaching Assistant: Srinivasan
Suspension Design – Course Content
• The need for suspension
• Common suspension topologies
• Suspension kinematics
• Instant center and instant axis concepts
• Equivalent swing arm concept
• Front view swing arm geometry
• Dynamic camber
• Roll center
• Side view swing arm geometry
• Wheel recession
• Anti characteristics
• Steering kinematics
• Ackermann geometry
• Kingpin geometry
• Caster and mechanical trail
• Scrub radius
• Kingpin inclination and offsets Lateral Load Transfer
• Steering geometry error Kingpin Geometry
• Ride steer and roll steer
• Torque steer
• Steering ratio
Suspension Design – Course Content (Contd…)
• Load transfer and control
• CG and moments of inertia
• Lateral load transfer
• Unsprung mass contribution
• Sprung mass contribution
• Body roll contribution
• Longitudinal load transfer
• Anti dive and anti squat
• Pitch compensation
• Control components
• Springs
• Roll bars
• Suspension damping
• Suspension compliance
• Classification
• Effect on vehicle handling
• Kinematics and compliance testing
• Testrig Suspension Architecture of the Sixth
• Types of tests and sample results Generation Ford Mustang
• Mustang suspension architecture study
Camber Change – McPherson Strut
• The McPherson strut may have a slight negative camber gain in jounce for a small wheel travel. This is usually small as the front view
swing arm length is large (because of the near vertical strut)
• The strut orientation does not change much during suspension travel. So the instant center is governed primarily by the lower control
arm
• As the wheel travel increases in jounce and once the control arm is parallel to the perpendicular drawn from the strut, the instant center
goes to infinity and the camber change is zero.
• When the suspension goes in jounce beyond this point, the instant center would shift to the outboard side of the wheel and this would
result in positive camber gain
• An inclined strut and lower control arm would solve this problem but moving the strut top point (body side) is difficult from a packaging
standpoint and this move would also decrease the motion ratio of the spring, making it less effective
Steering Kinematics: Ackermann

• Moving the rack forward in the rear rack system reduces the angularity and hence the system tends more towards parallel steer/reverse Ackermann
• Moving the rack rearward increases the angularity and hence the system tends more towards Ackermann/more than true Ackermann
• So in other words, the angularity determines the Ackermann.
• The formula remains the same, but drawing lines from the steer arm will not yield accurate results
Kingpin Geometry: Scrub Radius
Top View

Positive scrub Negative scrub

Kingpin geometry
Steering Geometry Error: Ride and Roll Steer
• Recall that every suspension has an instant center about which it pivots
• If the tierod is not aimed at the instant center or if it is not the correct length for its location, then the steering and suspension would
move about different centers and this would result in a steer that will occur with suspension travel called ride steer or bump steer

Front view instant center

• The outer tierod end must intersect line 1, the inner

end must intersect line 2 and the tierod should be
aimed at the IC
• It could be in an alternate location on lines 1 and 2
as long as the angle is correct

Tie rod location for zero bump steer

 Steering Geometry Error: Ride and Roll Steer

No tierod error Tierod length error Tierod angle error

• Curved ride steer plots are to be avoided because the steer effect changes from understeer to oversteer depending on the wheel ride position
• A linear but sloped ride steer plot may be used to add roll understeer in a suspension (toe out in jounce – outer front wheel toes out and inner
wheel toes in when the vehicle rolls)
• When tuning for roll steer, one wheel inputs also need to be taken into consideration – else, straight line tracking may become difficult
Steering Geometry Error: Ride and Roll Steer
Suspension Compliance: Overview
Front suspension bushings
• Compliance (deflection per unit force) is basically the inverse of
stiffness (force per unit deflection)
• The idea here is to study how much deflection occurs in the
suspension per unit force applied
• In passenger car suspensions, compliance is necessary to achieve
good ride
• Compliance may be introduced in several forms
• Elastomeric suspension pivots
• Soft mounted crossmembers/cradles/subframes
• Soft mounted steering racks
• Hard parts that deflect under load – suspension and steering
links, frames and cradles
• Bushing selection and the compliance in general is critical to Rear suspension bushings
achieving a good balance between ride/NVH and handling
• Compliances can modify geometric relationships in suspensions
and have a large effect on linear range understeer
• For performance cars and in racing, compliance generally causes
problems as it can compromise driving feel and can make tire
control more difficult
• Simulation packages are needed to perform detailed compliance
analysis (including non linearities)
Suspension Compliance: Classification
• In terms of the applied force component:
• Lateral force – cornering, banking, side wind
Wheel forces,
• Longitudinal forces – driving, braking, impact bumps
moments and angles
• Aligning torque – cornering
• In terms of the effect on the wheel position relative to the
chassis
• Steer compliance – the force/moment affects the steer
angle of the road wheel
• Camber compliance – the force/moment affects the camber
angle of the road wheel
Suspension Compliance: Effect on Handling
• When suspension compliance causes the front tires to deflect away from the turn direction or causes the top of the tire to lean away
from the turn, an understeer effect is produced.
• In the rear, when this happens, an oversteer effect is produced as the turn circle becomes smaller.
• The effects are reversed when the wheels steer or camber in the opposite direction

Lateral force compliance steer – rear suspension (top view shown)

Deflection understeer Deflection oversteer

Suspension Compliance: Effect on Handling
Suspension Compliance: Lateral Force Compliance Steer
• Whether this compliance in the front produces an understeer or oversteer effect depends on the relative stiffness of the suspension and
steering systems and the location of the steering rack (ahead of or behind the wheel center)
• The stiffness includes contributions from various links with their leverages being taken into consideration
• For a rear mounted rack, if the steering system is more compliant than the suspension system, the lateral force causes the wheels to deflect
away from the turn, hence producing an understeer effect
• In the rear suspension, the relative stiffness of the different bushings/links determing whether the compliance produces an understeer or
an oversteer effect
• For instance a trailing arm suspension will often have an oversteer effect as the wheels are deflected away from the turn under a lateral
load

Lateral force compliance steer Lateral Force compliance steer coefficient

Suspension Compliance: Lateral Force Compliance Camber
• The lateral force acts at the ground, below all the suspension components
• This results in the top of the tire leaning away from the turn center (positive camber for the outside wheel)
• This in turn causes the tire to lose cornering capability
• Therefore, in the front, lateral force camber compliance is always an understeer effect, while in the rear, it is always an oversteer effect

Lateral force compliance camber Lateral Force compliance camber coefficient

Suspension Compliance: Aligning Torque Compliance Steer
• This is always an understeer effect on the front axle and an oversteer effect on the rear axle.
• This is because the tire aligning torque always tries to straighten out the wheels
• Also, if the steering box or rack is flexibly mounted to the chassis, the understeer effect on the front can be very large

Aligning torque compliance steer Aligning torque steer compliance coefficient

Suspension Compliance: Longitudinal Compliance
• The front and rear wheels can be expected to steer with braking and driving forces
• The relative stiffness of the various links and bushings determine whether this compliance leads to an understeer or oversteer effect
• The longitudinal wheel center compliance is a measure of how much the wheel recedes when a rearward force is applied. This in addition
to side view swing arm geometry is important for a good ride

Longitudinal force compliance steer Longitudinal force wheel center compliance Longitudinal force compliance steer coefficient
Kinematics and Compliance Testing: Test Rig
• K&C testing is performed to characterize the geometric and elastic behavior of a suspension system
• It is, in essence, the application of known displacement or force inputs to the suspension and measurement of position changes at
the wheel center
• K&C test results can be used to: Typical K&C Rig
• Understand suspension behavior
• Assess vehicle build quality
• Feed computer simulations and correlate computer models

Wheel pad and sensor

Kinematics and Compliance Testing: Types of Tests

Bounce Roll Steering

Bump steer Roll steer Caster angle
Bump camber Roll camber Roadhwheel steer
Kinematics Tire rate Roll stiffness Ackermann percent
Wheel recession Track change Kingpin inclination
Wheelbase change Roll weight transfer Kingpin offset

Types of
K&C tests

Lateral Compliance Longitudinal Compliance

Compliance steer Compliance steer Aligning Torque Compliance
Compliance Compliance camber Compliance caster Compliance steer
Force roll center Deflection Compliance camber
Jacking forces Anti dive Tire aligning stiffness
Wheel center displacement Windup rate

Take a look at these for a lot more information on K&C testing

• http://www.morsemeasurements.com/
• https://www.horiba-mira.com/our-services/k-and-c-rig
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGvgE_TZLew
Kinematics and Compliance Testing: Sample Test Results

Bounce Roll Steering

Long.force
Lat.force Align.Trq
Ride Frequency: Sprung and Unsprung Mass Natural Frequencies
• The ride frequency is the undamped natural frequency of the body in ride

• Common frequency ranges

• 0.5 Hz to 1.5 Hz for passenger cars
• 1.5 Hz to 2.0 Hz for sedan race cars
• 3.0 Hz to 5.0 Hz for high downforce racers
• High frequencies imply stiff suspensions (high
stiffness and hence low static deflections)
• Static deflection is the deflection under 1g
loading condition
• Here, the ride rate rather than the wheel rate is
of relevance

Ride natural frequency vs. static deflection

Ride Frequency: Flat Ride
• What you see are exaggerated plots of what happens when the suspension encounters a bump
• Note that this is the undamped motion and when the damper is brought into the picture, the oscillations die down. Hence only the first
and the second period are considered dominant
• The out of phase motion is caused because the rear hits the bump a little later than the front (wheelbase separation)
• If the frequencies are the same (first picture), the front and rear suspension are out of phase and this causes pitching
• For a flat ride, the rear frequency needs to be higher than the front (second picture).
• Using a rear frequency of 1.2X the front frequency is typical

Out of phase - Pitch In Phase – Flat ride

Ride Frequency
Ride Frequency
Suspension Damping: Shock Absorber Design
• The hydraulic damper is used to suppress the oscillation and control the vertical motion of the sprung Shim stack
mass
• Contrary to the name ‘shock absorber’, the damper does not absorb road shocks
• The suspension absorbs shock and the damper dissipates the energy put into the system
• It does this by moving hydraulic fluid between different chambers through small orifices, hence
converting the kinetic energy of the bump into heat

Twin tube damper

Mono tube damper
• Inner cylinder is the working
cylinder • The hydraulic fluid and the
pressurized gas exist in
• Outer is the fluid reservoir different chambers separated
which also contains pressurized by the floating piston
gas
• More responsive since the gas
• Valves in the base and the and fluid are separated
piston provide damping
• Less prone to cavitation
• Works best in the vertical
alignment
Suspension Damping: Fundamentals

Vertical acceleration - simple

Simple one corner ride model
one corner model

Time histories of system response for different damping ratios

Suspension Damping: Damper Characteristics
• Compression damping is lower than rebound damping (by a factor of about 2) because during compression, the spring absorbs energy and hence
then damping force needs to be lower
• In rebound, energy is released from the spring. The damper has to control this energy release and therefore rebound damping needs to be higher
• Looking at the acceleration plot, to reduce the amplitude, it can be seen that at low speed (low frequency), it is desirable to have a high damping
ratio and at high speed (high frequency), a low damping ratio

Modified
Compression dampersplit
– rebound curve
Baseline damper curve

LowModified damper
speed – high curve
speed splitwith speed split
Load Transfer
• Load transfer is the shifting of the total normal load around a motor vehicle during acceleration, braking and cornering
• Remember that the total load always remains the same and is merely redistributed between the individual tires
• Also, the total load transfer is governed by vehicle dimensions (wheelbase, track), mass and center of gravity location

Longitudinal forward load transfer Longitudinal rearward load transfer Lateral load transfer
Load Transfer: Moment of Inertia
• The moment of inertia is a measure of the vehicle’s ability to resist rotation
• It determines the torque needed to produce a desired angular acceleration about a rotational axis

Vehicle coordinate system Dumbbell analogy for polar moment of inertia

Load Transfer: Sprung and Unsprung Mass
• The mass on the vehicle side of the springs (the mass that is supported by the springs) is 100% sprung mass
• The tires, wheels, brake rotors, calipers, knuckle assembly are all 100% unsprung mass
• The suspension links are 50% sprung and 50% unsprung
• The %unsprung mass of shocks, springs and roll bars would be a function of their motion ratio
• For the driven end, unsprung mass is approx. 15% of the total mass and for the non driven end, the unsprung mass is approx. 10% of the
total mass

Front Rear
suspension suspension
Load Transfer: Center of Gravity
• The CG location of a vehicle is one of the most fundamental design parameters for vehicle dynamics

CG lateral and fore-aft location CG vertical location

• Note that the calculations shown are simplified versions that exclude lateral offset of the CG
• The CG is usually determined through software tools and vehicle tests and the goal here is only to provide an overview of the calculations
Load Transfer: Sprung Mass Center of Gravity
• For some calculations, the CG location of the sprung mass is required

Sprung CG lateral and fore-aft location Sprung CG vertical location

Longitudinal Load Transfer: Weight Distribution
• Longitudinal load transfer occurs due to positive (acceleration) or negative (braking) acceleration

Longitudinal load transfer

Longitudinal Load Transfer: Vehicle Pitch
• The pitch is the angle that the body of the vehicle makes with the horizontal in the side view
• If no suspension forces oppose it (no anti properties), the pitch angle is a function of load transfer and wheel rate

Vehicle pitch

Squat Dive
Longitudinal Load Transfer: Anti Characteristics
• “Anti” in suspensions, is a term that describes the longitudinal to vertical force coupling between spung and unsprung masses. It results
from the slope of the swing arm angle in the side view
• This slope can be changed by changing the SVIC location which in turn is done by making hardpoint optimization
• It tells us the fraction of longitudinal load transfer occurring through the springs and that occurring through the suspension links
• The net longitudinal load transfer however remains the same as it is governed purely by the CG height, the vehicle weight and the wheel
base
Anti squat for solid axle, RWD vehicle

Fx and Fz reacted by the links Only Fx reacted by the links

Longitudinal Load Transfer: Anti Characteristics
• For a solid axle suspension, the side view swing arm height is calculated from the tire contact patch since the torque is reacted by the
suspension links (this is because the differential is part of the unsprung mass)
• For an independent suspension, the side view swing arm height is calculated from the wheel center since the torque is reacted by the
subframe and the chassis/body (this is because the differential mounted on the subframe)

Anti squat for IRS, RWD vehicle

Longitudinal Load Transfer: Anti Characteristics
• The basic idea is that during acceleration or braking, the springs compress and extend. Anti is a geometry setup that uses the horizontal
forces (acceleration or braking) to eliminate the spring deflection caused due to vertical load change
• In essence, it deals with the horizontal – vertical force coupling
• Anti-dive: Reduces the compression travel in the front suspension during braking
• Anti-squat: Reduces the compression travel in the rear suspension during acceleration
• Anti-lift: Reduces the rebound travel in the front suspension during acceleration and the rebound travel in the rear suspension during
braking
Longitudinal Load Transfer: Pitch Compensation
• The anti characteristics discussed previously can be used to reduce or eliminate vehicle pitch
Longitudinal Load Transfer: Pitch Compensation
• Theoretically, anti characteristics can be used to eliminate suspension deflection and hence pitch. But in reality, 100% compensation is never
done (typically, maximum compensation is around 50%) because:
• This would mean the suspension links take a lot of load
• Flat stops are subjectively undesirable
• NVH performance may be compromised
• Caster changes may occur during braking thus changing steering effort
• Other suspension design factors might be compromised (ex: a high pivot point in the rear may cause oversteer issues)