VEHICLE SUSPENSION-GENERAL CHARACTERISTIC

The suspension of modern vehicles need to satisfy a number of requirements whose aims partly conflict
because of different operating conditions (loaded/unloaded, acceleration/braking, level/uneven road,
straight running/cornering). The forces and moments that operate in the wheel contact area must be directed
into the body. The kingpin offset and disturbing force lever arm in the case of the longitudinal forces, the
castor offset in the case of the lateral forces, and the radial load moment arm in the case of the vertical forces
are important elements whose effects interact as a result of, for example, the angle of the steering axis.
Sufficient vertical spring travel, possibly combined with the horizontal movement of the wheel away from an
uneven area of the road (kinematic wheel) is required for reasons of ride comfort. The recession suspension
should also be compliant for the purpose of reducing the rolling stiffness of the tires and short stroke
movements in a longitudinal direction resulting from the road surface (longitudinal compliance, Fig. 1.1), but
without affecting the development of lateral wheel forces and hence steering precision, for which the most
rigid wheel suspension is required. This requirement is undermined as a result of the necessary flexibility
that results from disturbing wheel movements generated by longitudinal forces arising from driving and
braking operations. For the purpose of ensuring the optimum handling characteristics of the vehicle in a
steady state as well as a transient state, the wheels must be in a defined position with respect to the road
surface for the purpose of generating the necessary lateral forces. The build-up and size of the lateral wheel
forces are determined by specific toe-in and camber changes of the wheels depending on the jounce and
movement of the body as a result of the axle kinematics (roll steer) and operative forces (compliance steer).
This makes it possible for specific operating conditions such as load and traction to be taken into
consideration. By establishing the relevant geometry and kinematics of the axle, it is also possible to prevent
the undesirable diving or lifting of the body during braking or accelerating and to ensure that the vehicle does
not exhibit any tendency to oversteer and displays predictable transition behavior for the driver.

Other requirements are:

• Independent movement of each of the wheels on an axle (not guaranteed in the case of rigid axles);
• Small, unsprung masses of the suspension in order to keep wheel load fluctuation as low as possible
(important for driving safety);
• The introduction of wheel forces into the body in a manner favorable to the flow of forces;
• The necessary room and expenditure for construction purposes, bearing in mind the necessary tolerances
with regard to geometry and stability;
• Ease of use;
• Behavior with regard to the passive safety of passengers and other road users;
• Costs.

VEHICLE SUSPENSION-INDEPENDENT TYPE

The chassis of a passenger car must be able to handle the engine power installed. Ever-improving acceleration,
higher peak and cornering speeds, and deceleration lead to significantly increased requirements for safer
chassis. Independent wheel suspensions follow this trend. Their main advantages are:
• Little space requirement;
• A kinematic and/or elastokinematic toe-in change, tending towards under steering is possible;
• Easier steerability with existing drive;
• Low weight;
• No mutual wheel influence.
The last two characteristics are important for good road-holding, especially on bends with an uneven road
surface. Transverse arms and trailing arms ensure the desired kinematic behavior of the rebounding and
jouncing wheels and also transfer the wheel loadings to the body. Lateral forces also generate a moment which,
with unfavorable link arrangement, has the disadvantage of reinforcing the roll of the body during cornering.
The suspension control arms require bushes that yield under load and can also influence the springing. This
effect is either reinforced by twisting the rubber parts in the bearing elements, or the friction increases due to
the parts rubbing together, and the driving comfort decreases. The wheels incline with the body. The wheel on
the outside of the bend, which has to absorb most of the lateral force, goes into a positive camber and the inner
wheel into a negative camber, which reduces the lateral grip of the tires. To avoid this, the kinematic change of
camber needs to be adjusted to take account of this behavior and the body roll in the bend should be kept as
small as possible. This can be achieved with harder springs, additional anti-roll bars or a body roll centre
located high up in the vehicle.
1-DOUBLE WISHBONE

The last two characteristics above are most easily achieved using a double wishbone suspension. This
consists of two transverse links (control arms) either side of the vehicle, which are mounted to rotate on the
frame, suspension subframe or body and, in the case of the front axle, are connected on the outside to the
steering knuckle or swivel heads via ball joints. The greater the effective distance c between the transverse
links, the smaller the forces in the suspension control arms and their mountings become, i.e. component
deformation is smaller and wheel control more precise. The main advantages of the double wishbone
suspension are its kinematic possibilities. The positions of the suspension control arms relative to one
another – in other words the size of the angles can determine both the height of the body roll centre and the
pitch pole. Moreover, the different wishbone lengths can influence the angle movements of the compressing
and rebounding wheels, i.e. the change of camber and, irrespective of this, to a certain extent also the track
width change. With shorter upper suspension control arms the compressing wheels go into negative camber
and the rebounding wheels into positive. This counteracts the change of camber caused by the roll pitch of the
body which produces not only a better anti-dive mechanism, but also reduces the squat on the driven rear
axles (or lift on the front axles). These are also the reasons why the double wishbone suspension is used as
the rear axle on more and more passenger cars, irrespective of the type of drive, and why it is progressively
replacing the semi-trailing link axle.
2-McPHERSON STRUTS

The McPherson strut is a further development of double wishbone suspension. The upper transverse link is
replaced by a pivot point on the wheel house panel, which takes the end of the piston rod and the coil spring.
Forces from all directions are concentrated at this point and these cause bending stress in the piston rod. To
avoid detrimental elastic camber and caster changes, the normal rod diameter of 11 mm (in the shock
absorber) must be increased to at least 18 mm. With a piston diameter of usually 30 mm or 32 mm the
damper works on the twin-tube system and can be non-pressurized or pressurized. The main advantage of
the McPherson strut is that all the parts providing the suspension and wheel control can be combined into
one assembly.

Further advantages are:

• Lower forces in the body-side mounting points E and D due to a large effective distance c;
• Short distance b between points G and N;
• Long spring travel;
• Three bearing positions no longer needed;
• Better design options on the front crumple zone;
• Space at the side permitting a wide engine compartment; which makes it easy to fit transverse engines.

Nowadays, design measures have ensured that the advantages are not outweighed by the inevitable
disadvantages on the front axle. These disadvantages are:
• Less favorable kinematic characteristics.
• Introduction of forces and vibrations into the inner wheel house panel and therefore into a relatively elastic
area of the front end of the vehicle.
• It is more difficult to insulate against road noise – an upper strut mount is necessary, which should be as
decoupled as possible.
• The friction between piston rod and guide impairs the springing effect; it can be reduced by shortening
distance b.
• In the case of high-mounted rack and pinion steering, long tie rods and, consequently, more expensive
steering systems are required; in addition, there is the unfavorable introduction of tie-rod forces in the
middle of the shock-absorbing strut plus additional steering elasticity.
• Greater sensitivity of the front axle to tire imbalance and radial run out.
• Greater clearance height requirement.
• Sometimes the space between the tires and the damping element is very limited.

This final constraint, however, is only important on front-wheel drive vehicles as it may cause problems with
fitting snow chains. On non-driven wheels, at most the lack of space prevents wider tires being fitted. If such
tires are absolutely necessary, disc-type wheels with a smaller wheel offset are needed and these lead to a
detrimentally larger positive or smaller negative kingpin offset at ground. McPherson struts have become
widely used as front axles, but they are also fitted as the rear suspension on front-wheel drive vehicles.
3-REAR AXLE TRAILING ARM

This suspension – also known as a crank axle – consists of a control arm lying longitudinally in the driving
direction and mounted to rotate on a suspension subframe or on the body on both sides of the vehicle. The
control arm has to withstand forces in all directions, and is therefore highly subject to bending and torsionally
stress. Moreover, no camber and toe in changes are caused by vertical and lateral forces. The trailing-arm axle
is relatively simple and is popular on front-wheel drive vehicles. It offers the advantage that the car body
floor pan can be flat and the fuel tank and/or spare wheel can be positioned between the suspension control
arms. If the pivot axes lie parallel to the floor, the bump and rebound-travel wheels undergo no track width,
camber or toe-in change, and the wheel base simply shortens slightly. If torsion springs are applied, the
length of the control arm can be used to influence the progressivity of the springing to achieve better
vibration behavior under load. The control arm pivots also provide the radius-arm axis O; during braking the
tail end is drawn down at this point. The tendency to oversteer as a result of the deformation of the link (arm)
when subject to a lateral force, the roll centre at floor level, the extremely small possibility of a kinematic and
elastokinematic effect on the position of the wheels and the inclination of the wheels during cornering
consistent with the inclination of the body outwards (unwanted positive camber) are disadvantages.

4-REAR AXLE SEMI TRAILING ARM

This is a special type of trailing-arm axle, which is fitted mainly in rear-wheel and four-wheel drive passenger
cars, but which is also found on front-wheel drive vehicles. Seen from the top, the control arm axis of rotation
is diagonally positioned at an angle 10° to 25°, and from the rear an angle 5° can still be achieved. When the
wheels bump and rebound-travel they cause spatial movement, so the drive shafts need two joints per side with
angular mobility and length compensation. The horizontal and vertical angles determine the roll steer
properties. When the control arm is a certain length, the following kinematic characteristics can be positively
affected by:
• Height of the roll centre;
• Position of the radius-arm axis;
• Change of camber;
• Toe-in change.
Camber and toe-in changes increase the bigger the angles and semi-trailing axles have an elastokinematic
tendency to oversteering.
5-MULTI LINK

A form of multi-link suspension was first developed by Mercedes-Benz in 1982 for the 190 series. Driven and
non-driven multi-link front and rear suspensions have since been used. Up to five links are used to control
wheel forces and torque depending on the geometry, kinematics, elastokinematics and force application of the
axle. As the arrangement of links is almost a matter of choice depending on the amount of available space,
there is extraordinarily wide scope for design. In addition to the known benefits of independent wheel
suspensions, with the relevant configuration the front and rear systems also offer the following advantages:
• Free and independent establishment of the kingpin offset, disturbing force and torque developed by the radial
load.
• Considerable opportunities for balancing the pitching movements of vehicles during braking and acceleration
(up to more than 100% anti-dive, anti-lift and anti-squat possible).
• Advantageous wheel control with regard to toe-in, camber and track width behavior from the point of view of
tire force build-up, and tire wear as a function of jounce with almost free definition of the roll centre and hence
a very good possibility of balancing the self-steering properties.
• Wide scope for design with regard to elastokinematic compensation from the point of view of:
(a) Specific elastokinematic toe-in changes under lateral and longitudinal forces
(b) Longitudinal elasticity with a view to riding comfort (high running wheel comfort) with accurate
wheel control.

As a result of the more open design, the wheel forces can be optimally controlled, without superposition, and
introduced into the bodywork in an advantageous way with wide distances between the supports. The
disadvantages are:
• Increased expenditure as a result of the high number of links and bearings;
• Higher production and assembly costs;
• The possibility of kinematic overcorrection of the axle resulting in necessary deformation of the bearings
during vertical or longitudinal movements;
• Greater sensitivity to wear of the link bearings;
• High requirements with regard to the observation of tolerances relating to geometry and rigidity.