200590610

Automotive chassis assignment -2

Applying a quarter vehicle model to suspension analysis

Introduction:

Using the values a model is created to which the suspension has to be determined and this model is run
over representative road profile (RoadData.dat already given in the program). The road profile consists of
two columns of data, the first is the position along the road and the second the vertical displacement – or
profile – of the road surface. A constant vehicle of 20 mph is used throughout the problem and I also
compared the values of quarter vehicle model with the total body. Matlab is advance software used to
calculate the values as it can perform complex fractions and also plot the graphs as required.

Aim:

To derive the relevant measures and to understand the performance of a suspension system including the
numerical analysis of a quarter vehicle model

Given values:

A quarter vehicle model of a current suspension has been defined as given by the constants below.
Sprung mass 550 kg
Unsprung mass 65 kg
Tyre stiffness 400000 Nm-1
Tyre damper rate 150 Nsm-1
Suspension spring stiffness 45000 Nm-1
Suspension damper rate 7000 Nsm-1

Task (i): The figure (a) shows the model of the quarter body of the vehicle considering tyre damper
between unsprung mass and ground.

Kt(X0-Z1) Ct (Ẋ0-Ż1)

Figure (a): Model Figure (b): free body diagram

Whereas the figure (b) shows the free body diagram of the vehicle considering damper rate between
unsprung mass and ground.
Using Newton’s second law to the unsprung mass we get

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[1]

K t ( X 0−Z 1) − K s ( Z 1−Z 2) −C s ( Ż1 −Ż 2 ) − C t( Ẋ 0−Ż 1) = M u Z̈ 1

M u Z̈ 1+C s ( Ż 1− Ż 2 )+ K s ( Z 1−Z 2 ) +C t Ż 1+ K t Z 1=K t X 0 +Ct Ẋ 0

Using Newton’s second law to the sprung mass we get

K s ( Z 1−Z 2 ) +C s ( Ż 1− Ż 2 )=M s Z̈2

M s Z̈ 2−C s ( Ż1 −Ż 2 )−K s ( Z 1−Z 2 )=0

The above two equations (considering the tyre damper between the unsprung mass and the ground) of
motions can now be written as follows:

M u 0 Z¨ 1 (C s +Ct ) −(C s +C t ) Ż 1 (K t + K s) −K s Z 1 K X C X
[ 0 M s Z2
¨]{ } [
+
−(C s +C t ) (C s +C t ) Ż 2
+
−K ]{ } [
s K s Z 2
= t 0 + t 0
0 0 ]{ } { } { }
Where,

Mu = unsprung mass, Ms = sprung mass, Z̈1 = acceleration of unsprung mass,

Z̈ 2 = acceleration of sprung mass, Cs = suspension damper rate, Ct = tyre damper rate, Ż 1 = velocity of
unsprung mass, Ż 2 = velocity of sprung mass, Ks = suspension spring, Kt = tyre stiffness, Z1 = displacement of
unsprung mass, Z2 = displacement of sprung mass,

Task (ii): the matlab program which I edited is as follows,

Clear all
Close all

% Run the main solver program which calculates the time vector and z1, z2
displacements
% the data is returned in arrays called: trd, z1, z2 respectively
% the road displacement (input) is held in array x0
SuspensionFDSolver;

% the time series is fairly constant for values where data is recorded, find an
% average dt (time step) value for calculating spectra
dtVector = zeros(size(trd));
for n = 2:length(trd)
dtVector(n) = trd(n) - trd(n-1); % create a vector of dt's
end

% dt average for time where road input is not zero

dt_avg = mean(dtVector(find(x0,1,'first'):find(x0,1,'last')));

% Sampling frequency based on average dt

Fs = 1/dt_avg;

% Generates example plots showing x0, z1, z2

NSAPlot(trd,x0,'Vertical Profile of the Road (Input)','Time (s)','Height (m)');
NSAPlot(trd,z1,'Vertical Displacement at the UnSprung Mass','Time (s)','Height
(m)');
NSAPlot(trd,z2,'Vertical Displacement at the Sprung Mass (Body)','Time
(s)','Height (m)');

% Generates example plots of position spectra

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[fft_z1 freq_z1] = NSAFFTPlot(z1,Fs,'Unsprung Mass Position');

[fft_z2 freq_z2] = NSAFFTPlot(z2,Fs,'Sprung Mass Position');

% now Calculate derived quantities, z1d, z1dd, z2d, z2dd

z1d = zeros(size(trd));
z2d = zeros(size(trd));
z1dd = zeros(size(trd));
z2dd = zeros(size(trd));
x0d = zeros(size(trd));
f = zeros(size(trd));
f1 = zeros(size(trd));
for i=2:(nsamples-1),
dt = trd(i) - trd(i-1);
dt2 = ((trd(i+1) - trd(i)) + dt)/2;

z1d(i) = (z1(i+1) - z1(i-1))/(2*dt2);

z2d(i) = (z2(i+1) - z2(i-1))/(2*dt2);

f(i+1) = (kt*(z1(i+1)-x0(i+1)))+(ct*(z1d(i+1)-x0d(i+1)));
f1(i+1) = (ks*(z2(i+1)-z1(i+1)))+(cs*(z2d(i+1)-z1d(i+1)));
z1dd(i) = (z1(i+1) - 2*z1(i) + z1(i-1))/(dt2^2);
z2dd(i) = (z2(i+1) - 2*z2(i) + z2(i-1))/(dt2^2);
end;

% ************************************************************************
% added by the 200590610 (sandeep madhira) from here
% ************************************************************************

% graphs of z1d, z2d, z1dd, z2dd

NSAPlot(trd,z1d,'velocity of unsprung mass','time','velocity');
NSAPlot(trd,z2d,'velocity of sprung mass','time','velocity');
NSAPlot(trd,z1dd,'acceleration of unsprung mass','time','acceleration');
NSAPlot(trd,z2dd,'acceleration of sprung mass','time','acceleration');

% graphs of spectra of z1dd and z2dd

NSAFFTPlot(z1dd,Fs,'Unsprung Mass');
NSAFFTPlot(z2dd,Fs,'Sprung Mass');

% forces f across the tyre (due to both the spring stiffness and damper rate)
% and the forces f1 across the suspension spring and suspension damper
NSAPlot(trd,f,'Forces across tyre due to spring and damper','Time (s)','Loads
(N)');
NSAPlot(trd,f1,'Forces across suspension spring and damper','Time (s)','Loads
(N)');

% Displacement across the tyre (z2-z1) and the suspension spring (z1-x0).
NSAPlot(trd,z2-z1,'Displacement across the suspension','Time
(s)','Displacement(m)');
NSAPlot(trd,z1-x0,'Displacement across the tyre','Time (s)','Displacement(m)');

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Figure (c)

The above graph is of the vertical road profile which is also input in this report all the following values
determined in below levels are obtained on this road profile

a)

Displacement across tyre and displacement across suspension are shown in the figure (c), figure (d).

Figure (d) Figure (e)

The above figures show the displacement across the tyre with respect to time, we can observe that the
variation across the suspension is more compared to the variation across the tyre.

b) The force across the tyre and the forces across the suspension spring and suspension damper
considering both spring stiffness and damper rate are shown in the figure (e), figure (f). Force across the
tyre due to spring and damper is higher than force across suspension spring and damper. The loads
increase mainly in the time interval of 10 to 15 sec’s and again rise at 25th second. The highest load point in
force across the tyre due to spring and damper is at 1750 N compared to force across suspension spring
and damper which is at 350 N. From above observation we can say that the load mainly acts at tyre rather
than suspension. This again depends upon the driver is the rider wants to sacrifice ride he can increase
spring stiffness so that the load at suspension also increases and the handling improves as it helps the body
from roll.

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Figure (f) Figure (g)

Task (III): graphs of the quantities listed above and also generate graphs showing the spectrum of the
accelerations for the sprung and unsprung mass.

Figure (h) Figure (i)

Spectrum graphs are obtained from the NSAFFTplot.m program, it is a function to calculate and plot the
spectrum of a set of data, i.e. the amplitude or acceleration of the data as a function of frequency rather
than time. This function takes three parameters: the data to calculate the spectrum of, the sampling
frequency, and a text label to identify the data set. From above figures we can observe that the amplitude
of unsprung mass is three times that of sprung mass, in sprung mass graph we can observe that at low
frequencies acceleration is high and as the frequency increases the acceleration decreases. But where as in
unsprung mass we cannot see a steady rise or fall instead we can notice many variations especially
between the ranges of 7 to 18 Hz. From above graph we can say that the vehicle is good for smooth ride as
spring stiffness is low, this is observed in average spectrum of the sprung mass graph as the acceleration
decreases with the increase in the frequency.

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Task (IV):

a) The frequencies can be calculated from the formulas given below. Where f 1 is considered as the natural
frequency in body mode and f2 is considered as the natural frequency in the wheel hop mode

Where,

-1
Ks = 45000 Nm , Ms = 550 kg, Kt = 400000 Nm-1, Mu = 65 kg

After substituting the values and calculating we get the values

f1 = 1.44 Hz, f2 = 13.17 Hz

b) If a graph is plotted taking acceleration or amplitude on Y-axis and natural frequency on X-axis we get a
spectrum graph. According to the given problem if we calculate the natural frequency at two different
values i.e. at 45000 Nm-1 and 90000 Nm-1 both at the wheel hop mode and body mode we get the following
values:

F1 = 1.44 Hz, 13.17 Hz

F2 = 2.03 Hz, 13.81 Hz

Where,

F1 = the natural frequencies at both the modes taking the K s value as 45000 Nm-1

F2 = the natural frequencies at both the modes taking the value of K s = 90000 Nm-1

[2] Comparing the values of both the frequencies we find there is difference at body mode compared to the
wheel hop mode. The practical limit of natural frequency that can be included for a given size of the vehicle
and suspension constrain to have a soft ride is between 1 to 1.5 Hz. But the practical range of the natural
frequency for better handling by sacrificing the ride comfort is between 2 to 2.5 Hz. Now comparing the
values of F1 and F2 we can say that by increasing the value of K s (suspension spring rate) the handling
increases but the ride comfort also decreases.

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C)

The spectrums of the unsprung and sprung mass accelerations for a complete vehicle model are shown
below in figure (j) figure (k). From the below figures (l) & (m) we can observe that the profiles of the quarter
vehicle model and complete model are similar as the complete body model is analyzed from the quarter
models but the difference when looking at the whole model is that the amplitudes are very high. Also we
can see that in the figure (k) the amplitude decrease with the increase in the frequency which states that
this model is suitable for smooth ride but not excellent handling. To change it to better handling the spring
stiffness can be increased but the ride is sacrificed. Other thing we can notice is that the amplitude in both
unsprung mass acceleration and sprung mass acceleration of complete model is more than half of the
quarter vehicle model. This shows that the overall body of the vehicle is stable as the variations are less
when all the four wheels are taken into the consideration. The values obtained in the complete vehicle
analysis are in the limit of 10% of experimental measures spectra.
Spectrum of the Sprung Mass Acceleration
Spectrum of the Unsprung Mass Acceleration 0.2
0.7
0.18
0.6
0.16

0.5 0.14
Amplitude (arb.)

0.12
Amplitude (arb.)

0.4
0.1

0.3 0.08

0.06
0.2

0.04
0.1
0.02

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Frequency (Hz) Frequency (Hz)

Figure (j) Figure (k)

Figure (l) Figure (m)

Conclusion:

Matlab is the main program which is used throughout the calculations as it has the ability to calculate and
simulate the complex fractions giving the approximate values. The quarter vehicle model analysis on
suspension is done in this report and later compared with the whole body to understand the differences. In

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the report factors like displacement and forces are calculated for a particular road profile and the values
obtained for spring stiffness are again compared with different spring stiffness.

In the task (IV) b) the values of the spring stiffness are changed and the values obtained showed that as
spring stiffness increases the handling increases and ride comfort decreases.

The natural frequencies of vibrations are different at both wheel hop model and body model. In fact the
wheel hop model frequency is higher than the natural frequency of the body mode.

The high and low peaks show that the damper is taking loads when the vehicle passes over some bumps or
improper surface.

The comparison between the complete model and quarter model show that the profile is same but the
amplitude is the only factor which changes. They both are same as the road profile is same.

Reference:

[1] Prof. Dave Towers, suspension systems and components, university of Leeds.
[2] Thomas D. Gillespie, Fundamentals of vehicle dynamics, published by SAE 1992.