COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TURNING PERFORMANCE BETWEEN A VEHICLE WITH PLANAR SUSPENSION SYSTEMS AND A CONVENTIONAL VEHICLE

摘要

In a conventional vehicle, the vibration caused by road obstacles can not be effectively isolated in the longitudinal direction due to the fact that the longitudinal connections between the chassis and wheels are typically very stiff compared with the vertical connections. To overcome this limitation, a novel concept design of a planar suspension system (PSS) is proposed. The rather stiff longitudinal linkages are replaced by elastic ones in a PSS so that the vibration along any direction in the wheel plane can be effectively isolated. The soft longitudinal connection can change the wheelbase and the vehicle's weight distribution at the front and rear wheels, and may further change the handling performance. This paper presents a comparative study of the handling behaviour of a PSS vehicle and a similar conventional vehicle in cases of a combining operation between a turning and acceleration, and a turning on a road with pothole. The study demonstrates that the PSS vehicle has the potential to absorb the vibration in the longitudinal direction without sacrificing the handling performance. The handling behaviour of a PSS vehicle is generally comparable with, and under some conditions, even better than that of a conventional vehicle.