The relationship of complete vehicle dynamics characteristics to suspension kinematics and compliance data

Abstract

Kinematic and Compliance (K&C) parameters are used today to design and evaluate suspension systems in road vehicles. The reason for using K&C parameters to design and evaluate suspension systems are that the handling, steering and ride characteristics of the full vehicle are highly dependent on these parameters. Due to the complex nature of the overall vehicle system, the task of quantifying the effect of a single K&C parameter on the full vehicle characteristics is considered a challenging but highly desirable task. This thesis suggests a method that can be used to investigate and map the different K&C parameters effect on the full vehicle characteristics by means of full vehicle simulations done in simulation software with data collected from real vehicles measured at a K&C measurement rig. By means of this thesis it was found that the developed method could be used to identify and quantify individual K&C parameters effect on the full vehicle characteristics. To further improve the accuracy of the results and get a more complete mapping of the effects of K&C parameters on the full vehicle characteristics more vehicles should be measured and included to get a wider, more accurate test range for each K&C parameter. Also each K&C parameter should be simulated for more values then just the extremes to make sure that the vehicle behaviour when changing the different K&C parameters is linear or nonlinear for the whole K&C parameter range.