LOAD TRANSFER

Lateral and Longitudinal Load transfer

When a car enters a turn, it accelerates laterally with forces that generate at each tire contact patch. As soon as these cornering forces are generated the vehicle will try to resist lateral acceleration by developing an opposite force at the centre of mass. This gives rise to a side to side (lateral) load transfer, as well as chassis roll. Lateral load transfer can be calculated by taking moments about one of the wheel centres:

Where W = mass of the car = lateral acceleration h = centre of mass height T = track (car width) Similarly, when a car brakes or accelerates, a resistive force originates at the centre of mass, transferring load from rear to front (braking) or from front to rear (accelerating). This also will cause the vehicle to pitch.

Where

= longitudinal acceleration WB = wheelbase (car length)

Therefore from a design point of view, load transfer is minimised by increasing T and WB or by decreasing h. This is desirable because decreasing load transfer results in a very manoeuvrable car. However, the goal of this project is not to minimise load transfer but to analyse the effect of how that load is distributed across each individual wheel. This topic, fundamental to the correct set up of a car, will be covered in the next pages.

UNDERSTEER/OVERSTEER BALANCE
As a car approaches the limit of adhesion during cornering, the loss of traction experienced by the car can manifest: understeer, oversteer and neutral steer. The following are concise definitions

Understeer
Understeer can be thought of as a loss of grip of the front tires that will cause the vehicle to keep going straight, regardless of steering input. Understeer causes the vehicle to push its front tires to the outside of the corner (Segers, )

Oversteer
A car with oversteer exhibits the opposite problem to an understeering car. The vehicle suffers a loss of rear grip that will cause it to over-rotate and if not corrected with opposite steering input will eventually result in a spin. Oversteer causes the rear axle to break out (Segers, )

Neutral Steer
A neutral steering car is said to be balanced. In the event of loss of traction both axles will break out. Situation whereby neither understeer nor oversteer is taking place (Segers, )

YAW AND SLIP ANGLES

When a car enters a corner, it does so in a different manner compared to, for instance, a railroad vehicle. In an example taken from Going Faster (C. Lopez, ) if a car was to be placed inside a train wagon (fig. ), both the car and the train would change direction following the railway and both their centrelines would stay aligned at all times. However, cars do not behave this way when turning. Fig. Shows the comparison between how a train and a car negotiate a corner. For a car to generate a lateral force there needs to be a rotation toward the inside of the corner and about its centre of mass. Contrary to the car, the train does not any yaw to follow the cornering path. In this example there is an 8 degree angle between