A new method of identification of equivalent suspension and damping rates of full-vehicle model

The equivalent spring and damper are often used to simplify the dynamic analysis of a nonlinear full-vehicle model. Clearly, those rates are strongly influenced by the kinematics of a suspension mechanism. This paper presents a new approach to the identification of the equivalent suspension and damping rates. The suspension is considered as a 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) spatial parallel mechanism. The instantaneous kinestatic relations of the 1-DOF spatial parallel mechanism can be described using the theory of screws. The process of identification of the rates involves three steps: first, the joint positions of the suspension are found from the displacement analysis of the suspension mechanism. Second, the motion of each wheel of four suspension mechanisms is represented by the corresponding instantaneous screw at any instant. Third, the equivalent suspension and damping rates are determined from the kinestatic relations of the instantaneous screw. These rates are used for the dynamic analysis of the nonlinear full-vehicle model consisting of two pairs of the front (double-wishbone) and rear (multi-link) suspensions. Two dynamic behaviours of a car are analysed and compared with the simulation utilising the Adams/View software.