EFFECT OF THE FLEXIBILITY OF AUTOMOTIVE SUSPENSION COMPONENTS IN MULTIBODY DYNAMICS SIMULATIONS

摘要

In this study, the effects of flexible bodies in vehicle suspension components were investigated to enhance the accuracy of multibody dynamic simulation results. Front and rear suspension components were investigated. Sub-frames, a stabilizer bar, a tie rod, a front lower control arm, a front knuckle, and front struts were selected. Reverse engineering techniques were used to construct a virtual vehicle model. Hard points and inertia data of the components were measured with surface scanning equipment. The mechanical characteristics of bushings and dampers were obtained from experiments. Reaction forces calculated from the multibody dynamics simulations were compared with test results at the ball joint of the lower control arm in both time-history and range-pair counting plots. Simulation results showed that the flexibility of the strut component had considerable influence on the lateral reaction force. Among the suspension components, the flexibility of the sub-frame, steering knuckle and upper strut resulted in better correlations with test results while the other flexible bodies could be neglected.