Review of Vehicle Suspension Systems for Ride, Handling and Durability

The automotive industry uses different kinds of wheel/axle suspension systems. Important criteria for choosing the right suspension for exact type of vehicle are costs, space requirements, kinematic properties, and compliance attributes. These are usually changing during the driving of the vehicle. From the driver`s point of view the most important are vehicle ride quality, handling and durability. These can be improved either by the suspension kinematics and geometry, unsprung masses of the vehicle, steering properties and so on. All this can be tested by vehicle dynamics analysis (MSC.ADAMS) and finite element analysis (FEA) software, analytically by various test rig machines without wheels running and no torque input from the powertrain and the most importantly driver`s perception during the driving...