Suspension Design

Part 1

Rob Shanahan 11-15-05

Introduction
„ What is an Automotive Suspension?
An Automotive Suspension is the system of parts that give
a vehicle the ability to maneuver.

It is a 3 Dimensional Four Bar Linkage

„ What does a suspension do?

“The job of a car suspension is to maximize the friction
between the tires and the road surface, to provide steering
stability with good handling” HowStuffWorks.com

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Basic Suspension Terminology

„ Ride Height
„ Bump / Droop
„ Camber
„ Caster
„ Toe In / Out

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Ride Height, Bump & Droop
„ Ride Height
„ The neutral / middle
position of the
Suspension
„ Bump
„ When the wheel
moves upwards
„ Droop
„ When the wheel
moves downwards

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Camber
„ Tires generate more
cornering force with
a small amount of
negative camber
„ Camber changes as
suspension moves
up (bump) and
down (droop)

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Caster
„ Shopping cart action
„ Causes self-
centering action in
the steering
„ More caster results
in more camber as
front wheels are
turned

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Toe-in or Toe-out
„ Toe-in results is
inherently stable
„ Toe-out is inherently
unstable
„ Race cars often use
front toe-out, & rear
toe-in

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Common Suspension Designs

„ Beam Axle
„ Swing Axle
„ De Dion
„ Double Wishbone /
Unequal Length A-arm

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Beam Axle
„ Around since horse
and chariot days
„ Always keeps
wheels parallel
„ Often used in rear
„ Rarely used in front
„ OK on smooth tracks

9
Swing Axle
„ Often used on VW
based off road cars
„ Simple and rugged
„ Camber curve too
steep
„ Only adjustment you
can make is ride
height

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De Dion
„ Essentially a beam
axle with the diff
now sprung weight
„ Keeps wheels
parallel
„ Relatively light
weight
„ Better on smooth
tracks

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Double Wishbone
„ Lightest weight
„ Lowest unsprung
mass
„ Greatest
adjustability

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Basic Vehicle Dynamics
Part 2

„ What is Vehicle Dynamics?

„ The understanding and study of how a

vehicle and its components move and react

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Yaw, Pitch, and Roll
„ Same terminology
as aircraft
„ X is the longitudinal
axis
„ Yawing refers to
normal change of
direction
„ Pitching is dive or
squat

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Understeer
„ Front end of the car
“washes out” or doesn’t
“turn in”
„ NASCAR boys call it
“push” or “tight”
„ Safe, because lifting off
throttle reduces it
„ Most road cars have a
ton of it

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Oversteer
„ Rear end of car slides out
„ NASCAR boys call it “loose”
„ Excessive application of
power can cause oversteer
„ Throttle induced oversteer
is never the fast way
around a corner

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Weight Transfer
„ Occurs anything the vehicle
accelerates or decelerates
„ Cornering force Fc will
cause weight to transfer
from the inside to outside
tires
„ Braking and accelerating
forces cause a similar front
and rear weight transfer

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Roll Center
„ A geometric construct
„ Represents the instantaneous
point about which the sprung
mass will rotate due to cornering
forces
„ Roll center moves as suspension
travels
„ Goal of any suspension designer
is to minimize Roll Center
Migration

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Roll Couple
„ Distance from roll center
to CG is key
„ Low roll center results in
more roll for a given
lateral acceleration
„ Most designs use a low
roll center to reduce
jacking forces

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Anti-dive
„ Purely geometric method
to reduce pitch movement
„ Reduces suspension
compliance over bumps
„ No longer in favor with
formula car and sports
racers
„ Might work well for Baja

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Bump Steer
„ Caused when toe
changes as suspension
moves up and down
„ Causes car to react
unexpectedly over
bumps and in roll
„ Sometimes used
intentionally, but be
careful
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Tire Slip Angle
„ Angle between the
centerline of the
wheel and the actual
path
„ Tires generate
highest cornering
forces at a certain
slip angle

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Slip Angle vs. Grip
„ Grip is highest a set angle,
then falls off as the slip
angle increases
„ Sharper peak will give a less
predictable breakaway
„ Radial tires typically have a
steeper slope than bias ply

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Friction Circle
„ Plots the theoretical
limits of adhesion in
2 axes
„ Great tool for
analyzing driver to
driver variation
„ G-analyst is a cheap
tool for this

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Friction Circle, cont.
„ Illustrates the trade off
between cornering and
braking/accelerating
„ The driver that follows the
path closest to the outside
of the circle wins

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Car Balance
„ A well balanced car will exhibit
both understeer and oversteer at
different points on the course and
at corner entry and exit
„ A good driver can change his
technique to change the basic
oversteer/understeer balance

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