Chapter-9

Bounce and Pitch Motions

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 Bounce and Pitch Frequencies

Bounce and Pitch Vibration modes are

important as far as the ride is concerned
Bounce and Pitch motions are coupled

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 Pitch Plane Model for a Motor Vehicle
Consider a vehicle as shown in Fig: For simplicity in analysis,
the tire and suspension will be considered as a single stiffness
(the ride rate), and damping and unsprung masses will be
neglected.

Fig: Pitch plane model for a motor vehicle.

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For convenience in the analysis the following parameters are defined:
(K f Kr )
........................(1)
M
( K r c K f b)
........................(2)
M
(K f b2 Kr c2 )
2
........................(3)
Mk

Where:-
K f = Front ride rate
K r = Rear ride rate
b = Distance from the front axle to C.G
c = Distance from the rear axle to C.G
I y = Pitch moment of Inertia
k = Radius of gyration = I y
M

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 Bounce Degree of Freedom

Z
M MZ
b c
M
Kf Kr
K r c
K f b KfZ Kr Z

M Z ( K f K r ) Z ( K r c K f b) 0
(K f Kr ) ( K r c K f b)
Z Z 0
M M

Z Z 0

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 Pitch Degree of Freedom
Z
M
Mk 2

b c
M
Kf Kr
K r cZ
K f bZ K f b 2 K r c 2

Mk ( K f b 2 K r c 2 ) ( K r c K f b) Z 0
2

(K f b2 Kr c2 ) ( K r c K f b)
2
2
Z 0
Mk Mk

2
Z 0
k

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 Then the differential equations for the bounce, Z, and pitch motions
of a simple vehicle can now be written as:
..
Z Z 0 (4)
..
2
Z 0 . (5)
k
Of the several coefficients in these equations, only appears in both and is
appropriately called the coupling coefficient. When = 0 no coupling occurs,
and the spring center is at the center of gravity. For this condition, a vertical
force at the CG produces only bounce motion, and a pure torque applied to the
chassis will produce only pitch motion.
Without damping, the solutions to the differential equations will be sinusoidal
in form. The vertical motion will be:

Z Z sin t ..(6)
and the pitch motion will be:

sin t ..(7)
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 When these are differentiated twice and substituted into Eq. (2), we
obtain:

Z sin t Z sin t sin t 0

2
..(8)

Since the terms must always equal zero regardless of the instantaneous
value of the sine function:

( 2 ) Z 0 ..(9)

Z
..(10)
( 2 )

The same analysis applied to Eq. (5) yields:

Z k 2 ( 2 ) ..(11)

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 The above equations define conditions under which the motions can
occur. The constraints are that the ratio of amplitudes in bounce and pitch
must satisfy Eqs.(10) and (11).
Equating the right sides of Eqs.(10) and (11) yields the expressions for
the natural frequencies of the two modes of vibration.

2
( )( )
2 2
2
..(12)
k
2 ..(13)
( ) (
4 2
2
)0
k

The values of satisfying this equation are the roots representing the
frequency of the vibration modes. Two of the roots will be imaginary and
can be ignored. The others are obtained from the equations as follows:

( ) ( ) 2 2
(1, 2 )
2
( ) ..(14)
2 4 k2

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 ( ) ( ) 2 2

1, 2
2

k 2
..(15)
2 4

( ) ( ) 2 2
1 ..(16)
2 4 k2

( ) ( ) 2 2
2 ..(17)
2 4 k2

These frequencies always lie outside the uncoupled natural

frequencies.
The oscillation centers can be found using the amplitude ratios of
Eqs. (10) and (11) with the two frequencies 1 and 2 in Eqs.(16)
and (17). When substituted it will be found that Z/(1) and Z/ (2)
will have opposite signs.

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 When Z/ is positive, both Z and must be both positive
or negative. Thus the oscillation center will be ahead of the
CG by a distance x=Z/. Similarly, for the root with a
negative value for Z/, the oscillation center will be behind
the CG by distance x equal to Z/.
Likewise, one distance will be large enough that the
oscillation center will fall outside the wheelbase, and the
other will be small enough that the center falls within the
wheelbase.
When the center is outside the wheelbase, the motion is
predominantly bounce, and the associated frequency will
be bounce frequency. For the center within the wheelbase,
the motion will be predominantly pitch, and the associated
frequency is the pitch frequency. These cases are
illustrated in Fig:

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Fig: The two vibration modes of a vehicle in the pitch plane.

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 The locations of the motion centers are dependent on
the relative values of the natural frequencies of the
front and rear suspensions, where those frequencies are
defined by the square root of the ride rate divided by
the mass. That is:

1 Kf g ..(18)
ff
2 Wf

1 Kr g
fr ..(19)
2 Wr

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 Fig (next slide): shows the locus of motion
centers as a function of front/rear natural
frequency. With equal frequencies, one center
is at the CG location and the other is at
infinity.
Equal frequencies correspond to decoupled
vertical and pitch modes, and pure bounce
and pitch motions result. With a higher front
frequency the motion is coupled with the
bounce center ahead of the front axle and the
pitch center toward the rear axle.

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 A lower front frequency puts the bounce
center behind the rear axle and the pitch
center forward near the front axle. This
later case was recognized by Maurice
Olley in the 1930s as best for achieving
good ride.

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Fig: Effect of natural frequency ratio on position of motion centers.

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 What ride frequencies are common today?
Front Suspension Rear Suspension
Ride Rate Corner Unsprung Sprung Ride Rate Corner Unsprung Sprung Ride
Frequency Frequency
Vehicle wlo tire Weight Weight Weight wlo tire Weight Weight Weight Ratio
(Ib/in) (lb) (Ib) (lb) (hertz) (Ib/in) (lb) (Ib) (lb) (hertz) Rr/Frt
99 Volvo V70 XC 119 1032 100 932 1.12 131 832 100 732 1.32 1.18
2001 MB E320 4-Matic 117 991 100 891 1.13 148 964 100 864 1.29 1.14
Jeep KJ Liberty 126 1036 85 951 1.14 181 914 85 829 1.46 1.28
97 NS Chrysler T&C 148 1173 85 1088 1.15 145 880 85 795 1.34 1.16
Pacifica 160 1286 85 1166 1.16 153 1074 85 989 1.23 1.06
99 MB E320 4-Matic 121 985 100 885 1.16 150 960 100 860 1.31 1.13
97 Peugeot 306 GTI 110 850 85 765 1.19 113 468 85 383 1.7 1.43
99 Audi A6 Quattro 152 1070 100 970 1.24 172 864 100 764 1.48 1.2
131 907 85 822 1.25
2001 MB E320 2WD 144 969 85 884 1.26 NA
99 907 85 822 1.09
95 BMW M3 113 783 85 698 1.26 159 790 85 705 1.48 1.18
2001 VW Passat 163 1060 100 960 1.29 136 670 100 570 1.53 1.19
2000 Neon 134 836 75 761 1.31 127 510 65 445 1.67 1.27
2001 JR 161 1009 85 924 1.31 136 607 85 522 1.6 1.22
99 LH Dodge Intrepid 185 1125 85 1040 1.32 152 651 85 566 1.62 1.23
02 Jeep WG Grand Cherokee 197 1170 85 1085 1.33 184 1005 85 920 1.4 1.05

2000 VW Golf 107 797 85 712 1.21 105 586 85 501 1.43 1.18

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 Maurice Olley, one of the founders of modern
vehicle dynamics, established guidelines back
in the 1930s for designing vehicles with good
ride (at least for the low-frequency, rigid-body
modes of vibration).
These were derived from experiments with a
car modified to allow variation of the pitch
moment of inertia (his famous k2 rig).
Although the measure of ride was strictly
subjective, those guidelines are considered
valid rules of thumb even for modern cars.

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 The Olley Criteria
The front suspension should have a 30% lower ride rate
than the rear suspension, or the spring center should be at
least 6.5% of the wheelbase behind the CG. Although this
does not explicitly determine the front and rear natural
frequencies, since the front-rear weight distribution on
passenger cars is close to 50-50, it will generally assure
that the rear frequency is greater than the front.
The pitch and bounce frequencies should be close together:
the bounce frequency should be less than 1.2 times the
pitch frequency. For higher ratios, interference kicks
resulting from the superposition of the two motions are
likely. In general, this condition will be met for modern
cars because the dynamic index is near unity with the
wheels located near the forward and rearward extremes of
the chassis.
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 The Olley Criteria

Neither frequency should be greater than 1.3 Hz, which

means that the effective static deflection of the vehicle
should exceed roughly 6 inches. The value of keeping
natural frequencies below 1.3 Hz is clearly understood.
The roll frequency should be approximately equal to the
pitch and bounce frequencies. In order to minimize roll
vibrations the natural frequency in roll needs to be low
just as for the bounce and pitch modes.

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 The rule that rear suspensions should have a higher
spring rate (higher natural frequency) is rationalized by
the observation that vehicle bounce is less annoying as a
ride motion than pitch.
Since excitation inputs from the road to a car affect the
front wheels first, the higher rear to front ratio of
frequencies will tend to introduce bounce.(Centre of
percussion)
To illustrate this concept, consider a vehicle
encountering a bump in the road. The time lag between
the front and rear wheel road inputs at a forward speed,
V, and a car wheelbase, L, will be:
t = L/V ..(20)

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 Front Rear 2
Front Suspension Rear Suspension Pitch

1.5

Suspension Travel
Suspension Travel

0.5

Pitch (deg)
0

-0.5

-1
Time
Lag -1.5

-2
Tim e

Tim e

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 The oscillations at the front and rear of the car for an input of
this type are illustrated in Fig: Note that soon after the rear
wheels have passed over the bump the vehicle is at the worst
condition of pitching, indicated by the points A and B in the
Fig: Point A corresponds to the front end of the car being in a
maximum upward position, whereas the rear end (point B) is
just beginning to move. Therefore, the car is pitching quite
heavily.
With a higher rear frequency, after about one and one-half
oscillations of the rear suspensions, both ends of the car are
moving in phase.
That is, the body is now merely bouncing up and down until the
motion is almost fully damped. At different speeds and for
different road geometries, the vehicle response will change.
Thus the optimum frequency ratio of the front and rear ends of
the car has to be determined experimentally.

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 Special Cases
Most modern vehicles with substantial front and rear overhang exhibit
a dynamic index close to unity. That is:
DI = k2/bc = 1
When the equality holds, the front and rear suspensions are located at
conjugate centers of percussion (an input at one suspension causes no
reaction at the other). In this case the oscillation centers are located at
the front and rear axles. This is a desirable condition for good ride if
Olleys ride criteria are also satisfied. There is no interaction between
the front and rear suspensions.

A: centre of percussion

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 Roll Degree of Freedom
Z
M Mk x
2

t/2 t/2
M
Kl Kr
Kl (t / 2)Z K r (t / 2) Z

Kl (t / 2) 2 K r (t / 2) 2

Roll Frequency

( ) ( ) 2 2
1 2
2 4 kx

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