Suspension
- This article is primarily about four-wheeled (or more) vehicle suspension. For information on two-wheeled vehicles' suspensions see Suspension (motorcycle),Motorcycle fork, Bicycle suspension, andBicycle fork.
.JPG)
The front suspension components of a Ford Model T.
The rear suspension on a truck: a leaf spring.
Part of car front suspension and steering mechanism: tie rod, steering arm, king pin axis (using ball joints).
Van Diemen RF01 Racing Car Suspension.
Suspension is the system of tires, tire air,springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two.[1]Suspension systems must support both roadholding/handling and ride quality,[2] which are at odds with each other. The tuning of suspensions involves finding the right compromise. It is important for the suspension to keep the road wheel in contact with the road surface as much as possible, because all the road or ground forces acting on the vehicle do so through the contact patches of the tires. The suspension also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage and wear. The design of front and rear suspension of a car may be different.
History
Strap suspension 1605
Strap suspension 2008
note the transverse limiting straps
note the transverse limiting straps
An early form of suspension on ox-drawn carts had the platform swing on iron chains attached to the wheeled frame of the carriage. This system remained the basis for all suspension systems until the turn of the 19th century, although the iron chains were replaced with the use of leather straps by the 17th century. No modern automobiles use the 'strap suspension' system.
Automobiles were initially developed as self-propelled versions of horse-drawn vehicles. However, horse-drawn vehicles had been designed for relatively slow speeds, and their suspension was not well suited to the higher speeds permitted by the internal combustion engine.
The first workable spring-suspension required advanced metallurgical knowledge and skill, and only became possible with the advent ofindustrialisation. Obadiah Elliott registered the first patent for a spring-suspension vehicle; - each wheel had two durable steel leaf springs on each side and the body of the carriage was fixed directly to the springs which were attached to the axles. Within a decade, most British horse carriages were equipped with springs; wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. These were often made of low-carbon steel and usually took the form of multiple layer leaf springs.[3]
Leaf springs have been around since the early Egyptians. Ancient military engineers used leaf springs in the form of bows to power their siege engines, with little success at first. The use of leaf springs in catapults was later refined and made to work years later. Springs were not only made of metal, a sturdy tree branch could be used as a spring, such as with a bow. Horse-drawn carriages and theFord Model T used this system, and it is still used today in larger vehicles, mainly mounted in the rear suspension.[4]
This was the first modern suspension system and, along with advances in the construction of roads, heralded the single greatest improvement in road transport until the advent of the automobile.[5] The British steel springs were not well suited for use on America's rough roads of the time, so theAbbot-Downing Company of Concord, New Hampshire re-introduced leather strap suspension, which gave a swinging motion instead of the jolting up and down of a spring suspension.
In 1901 Mors of Paris first fitted an automobile with shock absorbers. With the advantage of a damped suspension system on his 'Mors Machine', Henri Fournier won the prestigious Paris-to-Berlin race on 20 June 1901. Fournier's superior time was 11 hrs 46 min 10 sec, while the best competitor was Léonce Girardot in a Panhard with a time of 12 hrs 15 min 40 sec.[6]
Coil springs first appeared on a production vehicle in 1906 in the Brush Runabout made by the Brush Motor Company. Today, coil springs are used in most cars.
In 1920, Leyland Motors used torsion bars in a suspension system.
In 1922, independent front suspension was pioneered on the Lancia Lambda and became more common in mass market cars from 1932.[7] Today most cars have independent suspension on all four wheels.
In 2002, a new passive suspension component was invented by Malcolm C. Smith, the inerter. This has the ability to increase the effective inertia of a wheel suspension using a geared flywheel, but without adding significant mass. It was initially employed in Formula 1 in secrecy but has since spread to other motorsport.
Difference between rear suspension and front suspension
Any four wheel vehicle needs suspension for both the front wheels and the rear suspension, but in two wheel drive vehicles these can be very different configuration. Forfront-wheel drive cars, rear suspension has few constraints and a variety of beam axlesand independent suspensions are used. Forrear-wheel drive cars, rear suspension has many constraints and the development of the superior but more expensive independent suspension layout has been difficult. Four-wheel drive often have suspensions that are similar for both the front and rear wheels.
History
Henry Ford's Model T used a torque tube to restrain this force, for his differential was attached to the chassis by a lateral leaf springand two narrow rods. The torque tube surrounded the true driveshaft and exerted the force to its ball joint at the extreme rear of the transmission, which was attached to the engine. A similar method was used by the late-1930s Buick and by Hudson's bathtub carof 1948, which used helical springs which could not take fore-and-aft thrust.
The Hotchkiss drive, invented by Albert Hotchkiss, was the most popular rear suspension system used in American cars from the 1930s to the 1970s. The system uses longitudinal leaf springs attached both forward and behind the differential of the live axle. These springs transmit the torque to the frame. Although scorned by many European car makers of the time, it was accepted by American car makers because it wasinexpensive to manufacture. Also, the dynamic defects of this design were suppressed by the enormous weight of US passenger vehicles before implementation of the Corporate Average Fuel Economystandard.
Another Frenchman invented the De Dion tube, which is sometimes called "semi-independent". Like a true independent rear suspension, this employs two universal jointsor their equivalent from the center of the differential to each wheel. But the wheels cannot entirely rise and fall independently of each other; they are tied by a yoke that goes around the differential, below and behind it. This method has had little use in the United States, though it does not evidence the bump steer that a more expensive, true independent suspension does. Its use around 1900 was probably due to the poor quality of tires, which wore out quickly. By removing a good deal ofunsprung weight, as independent rear suspensions do, it made them last longer.
Rear wheel drive vehicles today frequently use a fairly complex fully independent, multi-link suspension to locate the rear wheels securely while providing decent ride quality.
Spring, wheel, and roll rates
Citroën BX Hydropneumatic suspension - maximum to minimum demonstration
Spring rate
The spring rate (or suspension rate) is a component in setting the vehicle's ride height or its location in the suspension stroke. When a spring is compressed or stretched, the force it exerts is proportional to its change in length. The spring rate or spring constant of a spring is the change in the force it exerts, divided by the change in deflection of the spring. Vehicles which carry heavy loads will often have heavier springs to compensate for the additional weight that would otherwise collapse a vehicle to the bottom of its travel (stroke). Heavier springs are also used in performance applications where the loading conditions experienced are more extreme.
Springs that are too hard or too soft cause the suspension to become ineffective because they fail to properly isolate the vehicle from the road. Vehicles that commonly experience suspension loads heavier than normal have heavy or hard springs with a spring rate close to the upper limit for that vehicle's weight. This allows the vehicle to perform properly under a heavy load when control is limited by the inertia of the load. Riding in an empty truck used for carrying loads can be uncomfortable for passengers because of its high spring rate relative to the weight of the vehicle. A race car would also be described as having heavy springs and would also be uncomfortably bumpy. However, even though we say they both have heavy springs, the actual spring rates for a 2,000 lb (910 kg) race car and a 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) truck are very different. A luxury car, taxi, or passenger bus would be described as having soft springs. Vehicles with worn out or damaged springs ride lower to the ground which reduces the overall amount of compression available to the suspension and increases the amount of body lean. Performance vehicles can sometimes have spring rate requirements other than vehicle weight and load.
Mathematics of the spring rate
Spring rate is a ratio used to measure how resistant a spring is to being compressed or expanded during the spring's deflection. The magnitude of the spring force increases as deflection increases according to Hooke's Law. Briefly, this can be stated as
where
- F is the force the spring exerts
- k is the spring rate of the spring.
- x is the deflection of the spring from its equilibrium position (i.e., when no force is applied on the spring)
Negative sign indicates direction of applied force and force exerted by spring are opposite. Spring rate is confined to a narrow interval by the weight of the vehicle, load the vehicle will carry, and to a lesser extent by suspension geometry and performance desires.
Spring rates typically have units of N/mm (orlbf/in). An example of a linear spring rate is 500 lbf/in. For every inch the spring is compressed, it exerts 500 lbf. A non-linear spring rate is one for which the relation between the spring's compression and the force exerted cannot be fitted adequately to a linear model. For example, the first inch exerts 500 lbf force, the second inch exerts an additional 550 lbf (for a total of 1050 lbf), the third inch exerts another 600 lbf (for a total of 1650 lbf). In contrast a 500 lbf/in linear spring compressed to 3 inches will only exert 1500 lbf.
The spring rate of a coil spring may be calculated by a simple algebraic equation or it may be measured in a spring testing machine. The spring constant k can be calculated as follows:
where d is the wire diameter, G is the spring'sshear modulus (e.g., about 12,000,000 lbf/in²or 80 GPa for steel), N is the number of wraps and D is the diameter of the coil.
Wheel rate
Wheel rate is the effective spring rate when measured at the wheel. This is as opposed to simply measuring the spring rate alone.
Wheel rate is usually equal to or considerably less than the spring rate. Commonly, springs are mounted on control arms, swing arms or some other pivoting suspension member. Consider the example above where the spring rate was calculated to be 500 lbs/inch (87.5 N/mm), if you were to move the wheel 1 in (2.5 cm) (without moving the car), the spring more than likely compresses a smaller amount. Let's assume the spring moved 0.75 in (19 mm), the lever arm ratio would be 0.75:1. The wheel rate is calculated by taking the square of the ratio (0.5625) times the spring rate, thus obtaining 281.25 lbs/inch (49.25 N/mm). Squaring the ratio is because the ratio has two effects on the wheel rate. The ratio applies to both the force and distance traveled.
Wheel rate on independent suspension is fairly straightforward. However, special consideration must be taken with some non-independent suspension designs. Take the case of the straight axle. When viewed from the front or rear, the wheel rate can be measured by the means above. Yet because the wheels are not independent, when viewed from the side under acceleration or braking the pivot point is at infinity (because both wheels have moved) and the spring is directly inline with the wheel contact patch. The result is often that the effective wheel rate under cornering is different from what it is under acceleration and braking. This variation in wheel rate may be minimized by locating the spring as close to the wheel as possible.
Wheel rates are usually summed and compared with the sprung mass of a vehicle to create a "ride rate" and corresponding suspension natural frequency in ride (also referred to as "heave"). This can be useful in creating a metric for suspension stiffness and travel requirements for a vehicle.
Roll rate
Roll rate is analogous to a vehicle's ride rate, but for actions that include lateral accelerations, causing a vehicle's sprung mass to roll about its roll axis. It is expressed as torque per degree of roll of the vehicle sprung mass. It is influenced by factors including but not limited to vehicle sprung mass, track width, CG height, spring and damper rates, roll center heights of front and rear, anti-roll bar stiffness and tire pressure/construction. The roll rate of a vehicle can, and usually does, differ front to rear, which allows for the tuning ability of a vehicle for transient and steady state handling. The roll rate of a vehicle does not change the total amount of weight transfer on the vehicle, but shifts the speed at which and percentage of weight transferred on a particular axle to another axle through the vehicle chassis. Generally, the higher the roll rate on an axle of a vehicle, the faster and higher percentage the weight transfer on that axle.
Roll couple percentage
Roll couple percentage is a simplified method of describing lateral load transfer distribution front to rear, and subsequently handling balance. It is the effective wheel rate, in roll, of each axle of the vehicle as a ratio of the vehicle's total roll rate. It is commonly adjusted through the use of anti-roll bars, but can also be changed through the use of different springs.
Weight transfer
Weight transfer during cornering, acceleration or braking is usually calculated per individual wheel and compared with the static weights for the same wheels.
The total amount of weight transfer is only affected by four factors: the distance between wheel centers (wheelbase in the case of braking, or track width in the case of cornering) the height of the center of gravity, the mass of the vehicle, and the amount of acceleration experienced.
The speed at which weight transfer occurs as well as through which components it transfers is complex and is determined by many factors including but not limited to roll center height, spring and damper rates, anti-roll bar stiffness and the kinematic design of the suspension links. In most conventional applications, when weight is transferred through intentionally compliant elements such as springs, dampers and anti-roll bars, the weight transfer is said to be "elastic", while the weight which is transferred through more rigid suspension links such as A-arms and toe links is said to be "geometric".
Unsprung weight transfer
Unsprung weight transfer is calculated based on the weight of the vehicle's components that are not supported by the springs. This includes tires, wheels, brakes, spindles, half the control arm's weight and other components. These components are then (for calculation purposes) assumed to be connected to a vehicle with zero sprung weight. They are then put through the same dynamic loads. The weight transfer for cornering in the front would be equal to the total unsprung front weight times the G-Force times the front unsprung center of gravity height divided by the front track width. The same is true for the rear.
Sprung weight transfer
Sprung weight transfer is the weight transferred by only the weight of the vehicle resting on the springs, not the total vehicle weight. Calculating this requires knowing the vehicle's sprung weight (total weight less the unsprung weight), the front and rear roll center heights and the sprung center of gravity height (used to calculate the roll moment arm length). Calculating the front and rear sprung weight transfer will also require knowing the roll couple percentage.
The roll axis is the line through the front and rear roll centers that the vehicle rolls around during cornering. The distance from this axis to the sprung center of gravity height is the roll moment arm length. The total sprung weight transfer is equal to the G-force times the sprung weight times the roll moment arm length divided by the effective track width. The front sprung weight transfer is calculated by multiplying the roll couple percentage times the total sprung weight transfer. The rear is the total minus the front transfer.
Jacking forces
Jacking forces are the sum of the vertical force components experienced by the suspension links. The resultant force acts to lift the sprung mass if the roll center is above ground, or compress it if underground. Generally, the higher the roll center, the more jacking force is experienced.
Other properties
Travel
Travel is the measure of distance from the bottom of the suspension stroke (such as when the vehicle is on a jack and the wheel hangs freely) to the top of the suspension stroke (such as when the vehicle's wheel can no longer travel in an upward direction toward the vehicle). Bottoming or lifting a wheel can cause serious control problems or directly cause damage. "Bottoming" can be caused by the suspension, tires, fenders, etc. running out of space to move or the body or other components of the car hitting the road. The control problems caused by lifting a wheel are less severe if the wheel lifts when the spring reaches its unloaded shape than they are if travel is limited by contact of suspension members (See Triumph TR3B.) Many off-road vehicles, such as desert racers, use straps called "limiting straps" to limit the suspensions downward travel to a point within safe limits for the linkages and shock absorbers. This is necessary, since these trucks are intended to travel over very rough terrain at high speeds, and even become airborne at times. Without something to limit the travel, the suspension bushings would take all the force when the suspension reaches "full droop", and it can even cause the coil springs to come out of their "buckets" if they are held in by compression forces only. A limiting strap is a simple strap, often nylon of a predetermined length, that stops the downward movement at a preset point before the theoretical maximum travel is reached. The opposite of this is the "bump-stop", which protects the suspension and vehicle (as well as the occupants) from violent "bottoming" of the suspension, caused when an obstruction (or hard landing) causes the suspension to run out of upward travel without fully absorbing the energy of the stroke. Without bump-stops, a vehicle that "bottoms out" will experience a very hard shock when the suspension contacts the bottom of the frame or body, which is transferred to the occupants and every connector and weld on the vehicle. Factory vehicles often come with plain rubber "nubs" to absorb the worst of the forces, and insulate the shock. A desert race vehicle, which must routinely absorb far higher impact forces, may be provided with pneumatic or hydro-pneumatic bump-stops. These are essentially miniature shock absorbers (dampeners) that are fixed to the vehicle in a location such that the suspension will contact the end of the piston when it nears the upward travel limit. These absorb the impact far more effectively than a solid rubber bump-stop will, essential because a rubber bump-stop is considered a "last-ditch" emergency insulator for the occasional accidental bottoming of the suspension; it is entirely insufficient to absorb repeated and heavy bottomings such as a high-speed off-road vehicle encounters.
Damping
Damping is the control of motion or oscillation, as seen with the use of hydraulic gates and valves in a vehicle's shock absorber. This may also vary, intentionally or unintentionally. Like spring rate, the optimal damping for comfort may be less than for control.
Damping controls the travel speed and resistance of the vehicle's suspension. An undamped car will oscillate up and down. With proper damping levels, the car will settle back to a normal state in a minimal amount of time. Most damping in modern vehicles can be controlled by increasing or decreasing the resistance to fluid flow in the shock absorber.
Camber control
See dependent and independent below.Camber changes due to wheel travel, body roll and suspension system deflection or compliance. In general, a tire wears and brakes best at -1 to -2° of camber from vertical. Depending on the tire and the road surface, it may hold the road best at a slightly different angle. Small changes in camber, front and rear, can be used to tune handling. Some race cars are tuned with -2 to -7° camber depending on the type of handling desired and the tire construction. Often, too much camber will result in the decrease of braking performance due to a reduced contact patch size through excessive camber variation in the suspension geometry. The amount of camber change in bump is determined by the instantaneous front view swing arm (FVSA) length of the suspension geometry, or in other words, the tendency of the tire to camber inward when compressed in bump.
Roll center height
Roll center height is a product of suspension instant center heights and is a useful metric in analyzing weight transfer effects, body roll and front to rear roll stiffness distribution. Conventionally, roll stiffness distribution is tuned adjusting antiroll bars rather than roll center height (as both tend to have a similar effect on the sprung mass), but the height of the roll center is significant when considering the amount of jacking forces experienced.
Instant center
Due to the fact that the wheel and tire's motion is constrained by the suspension links on the vehicle, the motion of the wheel package in the front view will scribe an imaginary arc in space with an "instantaneous center" of rotation at any given point along its path. The instant center for any wheel package can be found by following imaginary lines drawn through the suspension links to their intersection point.
A component of the tire's force vector points from the contact patch of the tire through instant center. The larger this component is, the less suspension motion will occur. Theoretically, if the resultant of the vertical load on the tire and the lateral force generated by it points directly into the instant center, the suspension links will not move. In this case, all weight transfer at that end of the vehicle will be geometric in nature. This is key information used in finding the force-based roll center as well.
In this respect the instant centers are more important to the handling of the vehicle than the kinematic roll center alone, in that the ratio of geometric to elastic weight transfer is determined by the forces at the tires and their directions in relation to the position of their respective instant centers.
Comments
Post a Comment