Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Pitch plane analysis of a twin-gas-chamber strut suspension
AU - Cao, D.
AU - Rakheja, S.
AU - Su, C-Y
PY - 2008/8
Y1 - 2008/8
N2 - A twin-gas-chamber hydropneumatic suspension strut concept is proposed to achieve enhanced bounce and pitch ride, and pitch attitude control. The response characteristics of the twin-gas-chamber strut suspension are compared with those of a single-gas-chamber strut Suspension to demonstrate not Only Superior performance potentials but also the added design flexibility offered by the twin- gas- chamber struts. The relative responses of both strut suspensions are evaluated through analysis of a pitch plane vehicle model, subject to straight-line braking inputs and excitations arising from randomly distributed road elevations. A generalized formulation for the strut forces is presented to derive the bounce and pitch rates of the proposed strut Suspensions. The results reveal that the twin-gas-chamber strut Suspension exhibits a slightly lower pitch stiffness in the vicinity of design ride height, but progressively hardening effects with increasing pitch deflections. Moreover, the twin-gas-chamber strut suspension exhibits considerably fewer hardening-softening effects in suspension rate compared with the suspension involving the single-gas-chamber struts. The results attained from the parametric Studies are also discussed to demonstrate superior design flexibility of the twin-gas-chamber struts for timing of the suspension bounce and pitch stiffness properties. The dynamic responses of the vehicle model with different Suspensions are assessed subject to random road roughness excitations as well as braking torque inputs. The results demonstrate that the twin- gas-chamber strut Suspension offers considerable potential for enhancing bounce and pitch ride, pitch attitude control, and Suspension travel responses under braking, while the influence on the ride and road-holding responses under random road inputs is insignificant. The results also suggest that a relatively soft front Suspension design Could provide further enhancement of pitch ride and pitch deflection responses under random road roughness excitations.
AB - A twin-gas-chamber hydropneumatic suspension strut concept is proposed to achieve enhanced bounce and pitch ride, and pitch attitude control. The response characteristics of the twin-gas-chamber strut suspension are compared with those of a single-gas-chamber strut Suspension to demonstrate not Only Superior performance potentials but also the added design flexibility offered by the twin- gas- chamber struts. The relative responses of both strut suspensions are evaluated through analysis of a pitch plane vehicle model, subject to straight-line braking inputs and excitations arising from randomly distributed road elevations. A generalized formulation for the strut forces is presented to derive the bounce and pitch rates of the proposed strut Suspensions. The results reveal that the twin-gas-chamber strut Suspension exhibits a slightly lower pitch stiffness in the vicinity of design ride height, but progressively hardening effects with increasing pitch deflections. Moreover, the twin-gas-chamber strut suspension exhibits considerably fewer hardening-softening effects in suspension rate compared with the suspension involving the single-gas-chamber struts. The results attained from the parametric Studies are also discussed to demonstrate superior design flexibility of the twin-gas-chamber struts for timing of the suspension bounce and pitch stiffness properties. The dynamic responses of the vehicle model with different Suspensions are assessed subject to random road roughness excitations as well as braking torque inputs. The results demonstrate that the twin- gas-chamber strut Suspension offers considerable potential for enhancing bounce and pitch ride, pitch attitude control, and Suspension travel responses under braking, while the influence on the ride and road-holding responses under random road inputs is insignificant. The results also suggest that a relatively soft front Suspension design Could provide further enhancement of pitch ride and pitch deflection responses under random road roughness excitations.
KW - twin-gas-chamber strut
KW - pitch stiffness
KW - suspension rate
KW - design flexibility
KW - front and rear stiffness tuning
KW - pitch ride
KW - pitch attitude control
KW - VIBRATION
KW - DYNAMICS
KW - ROLL
U2 - 10.1243/09544070JAUTO779
DO - 10.1243/09544070JAUTO779
M3 - Journal article
VL - 222
SP - 1313
EP - 1335
JO - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering
JF - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of Automobile Engineering
SN - 0954-4070
IS - 8
ER -